SINGAPORE: Step into this four-bedroom apartment on the 61st floor of Wallich Residence – owned by convicted money launderer Zhang Ruijin – and the sweeping vista is the first thing that catches the eye.
Beyond the wrap-around glass windows, Sentosa Cove glitters in the distance, while the vast expanse of the future Greater Southern Waterfront lies on the horizon. Directly above is the super penthouse once owned by billionaire inventor James Dyson.
This 1,991 sq ft four-bedroom apartment, which boasts a high ceiling and luxurious entertaining and family spaces, is among 26 properties linked to the 2023 multibillion-dollar money laundering case that will be up for auction starting this week.
They are the first batch of more than 80 properties going under the hammer as the Government seeks to liquidate assets seized during investigations. Real estate companies Knight Frank, SRI and ETC have been appointed to conduct the Sept 17 and Sept 23 auctions.
The Wallich Residence apartment comes with a guide price of S$6.78 million.
Singapore Land Authority (SLA) records show that it is owned by Chinese national Zhang, who was sentenced to 15 months’ jail, along with his lover, Lin Baoying, after they pleaded guilty in Singapore to money laundering and forgery charges.
The pair were deported to Cambodia in June 2024 after serving their sentences.
Zhang and Lin were among 10 foreigners arrested in the probe, all from Fujian, China. They had bought several luxury units at some of Singapore’s most sought-after prime district projects, including Canninghill Piers, South Beach Residences and Gramercy Park, which were launched between 2017 and 2021.
The 10 were given jail sentences and made to forfeit their cash and assets.
“Word on the street is that the Fujian money launderers liked to acquire super-luxury properties that gave them privacy and shielded them from prying eyes in neighbouring condominiums.
“Having said that, legitimate ultra-high-net-worth Chinese buyers also have the same preferences,” said Alan Cheong, executive director of research and consultancy at Savills Singapore.
One such property is a 42nd-floor, four-bedroom penthouse at the Norman Foster-designed South Beach Residences owned by Su Yongcan, according to a property ownership search by The Straits Times. He fled Singapore before police operations relating to the money laundering case began in August 2023.
Based on SLA records, Su and Zhang are the registered owners of their respective properties, but their right to deal with them is now disenfranchised by the law, said Robson Lee, a partner at Kennedys Law.
The authorities went after $2.1 billion worth of assets linked to 17 suspects. In November 2024, police said that 15 of them, including Su, agreed to surrender their assets, valued at around $1.85 billion, in exchange for the withdrawal of Interpol notices against them.
Going under the hammer at a guide price of $25.3 million on Sept 23, Su’s 6,727 sq ft penthouse comes with grey marble flooring in the living and dining areas, and a massive open balcony overlooking the Esplanade and Marina Bay.
Taking centre stage are a raindrop chandelier and a ceiling art installation consisting of coloured tubes suspended from thin cables to form an organic flowing wave, according to photos of the penthouse’s listing on PropertyGuru.
Most of the rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, including one with a floor-to-ceiling luxury library bookcase. One bedroom, presumably a child’s room, features a whimsical vintage aviation-themed wallpaper mural with retro hot-air balloons.
The Wallich Residence units offer similarly expansive living spaces.
The four condominium units, located on the 51st, 53rd, 54th and 61st floors, all feature very large entertainment and family spaces, high-end furnishings and appliances, and panoramic waterfront views. Three of the units are sold with furnishings, according to videos of the listings on PropertyGuru.
At Martin Modern, the six units up for auction feature distinctive grey marble flooring and floor-to-ceiling windows in most rooms, the property listings show. At a guide price of $4.98 million, a 1,733 sq ft four-bedder on the 26th floor comes with private lift access.
A three-bedder with a guide price of $3.3 million features a unique long horizontal window backsplash, or a letterbox window, built directly above a dark stone countertop, which looks into the spacious living room, creating an open-concept feel.
The four freehold condo units with private lifts at Gramercy Park, which have guide prices of between $3.8 million and $7.6 million, come with marble flooring, spacious living and dining areas, and floor-to-ceiling windows. One unit has two large wagon-wheel-style chandeliers in the living room, according to the property’s listing on PropertyGuru.
Also on the auction block on Sept 17 are two freehold three-bedroom units with private lifts at Sloane Residences in Balmoral Road, at guide prices of between $3.6 million and $3.7 million, and a 3,498 sq ft Grade A office space at Suntec Tower One at a guide price of $11.5 million.
Knight Frank will hold an auction that day of the seven properties at its Ocean Financial Centre office.
ETC’s portfolio includes five South Beach properties with unobstructed views of Suntec City, Esplanade, Guoco Midtown and Marina Bay Sands, two at 8 Saint Thomas in River Valley and one at Paterson Suites, as well as an 8,800 sq ft factory at Shun Li Industrial Park. Guide prices range between $4.45 million and $25.3 million for the South Beach properties.
Analysts believe that the properties on the auction block are of interest to a number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals as there is a limited supply of such homes in the prime districts, particularly those with a large floor plate.
“Some may see it as a value buy as the price, location and property-related attributes such as size, layout and tenure may be more important than the history of the properties. Furthermore, the sale process is straightforward,” said Mark Yip, chief executive of Huttons Asia.
Two auctions will be held on Sept 23 by Edmund Tie and SRI at their respective offices at the UIC Building at 5 Shenton Way, and Great World City.
“Offering the properties in manageable batches allows the seller to gauge demand, and adjust the reserve and guide prices and the size of future batches for sale,” said Nicholas Mak, chief research officer at Mogul.sg.
Why commercial and industrial property
Apart from the Suntec Tower office space, a four-storey terrace factory in Shun Li Industrial Park in Kaki Bukit is up for auction at a guide price of $3.63 million.
On why the money launderers bought commercial and industrial property, Cheong cited the absence of additional buyer’s stamp duty.
“Another reason is that in the money laundering process, the final stage is to integrate the funds into a legitimate asset class or business. Money launderers may have a certain amount of funds to integrate, and they may want to match that quantum with an investment asset of that size,” he said.
Yip noted that the guide prices for most of the 24 luxury apartments are slightly higher than recent transacted prices of similar properties in these projects.
“Buyers should not expect that these properties will be sold for a song as there is public accountability with all proceeds from the sale paid into the Consolidated Fund. Hence, the properties will be sold at a fair value,” he said.
Cheong added that it could be “a value buy for those not turned off by the properties having been owned by money launderers, and whatever else they had been doing in the units”. - The Straits Times/ANN
