SINGAPORE: Four luxury apartments in Wallich Residence and Martin Modern were sold at auction on Wednesday (Sept 23), while 15 other properties were withdrawn, as the Government looks to liquidate assets seized in the S$3 billion money laundering case.
The 15 properties – including the most expensive of the lot, a 42nd-floor penthouse at South Beach Residences – were withdrawn either because they failed to meet their reserve prices or did not attract any bids.
Those sold include a four-bedroom apartment on the 61st floor of Wallich Residence, previously owned by foreign national Zhang Ruijin, who was convicted in the case and later deported in 2024.
The apartment sold for $6.78 million at an auction held at brokerage SRI’s Great World City office.
The 1,991 sq ft unit, which boasts high ceilings and sweeping views of the future Greater Southern Waterfront, sits directly below the super penthouse once owned by billionaire inventor James Dyson.
A second four-bedroom apartment on the 53rd storey of the same development in Tanjong Pagar sold separately for $5.48 million.
The 1,658 sq ft unit opened at $5.55 million, and was met with a counter-offer of $5.3 million before four other bids pushed it to $5.48 million.
In total, 10 properties in Wallich Residence and Martin Modern in River Valley went under the hammer at the auction held at SRI’s office.
The six units at Martin Modern had guide prices of between $2.238 million and $4.98 million, while the four apartments at the Wallich Residence had guide prices of between $4.4 million and $6.8 million.
The auction at SRI’s office also saw a pair of two-bedder apartments at Martin Modern sold at below their guide prices.
A 26th-storey apartment at the River Valley development sold for $2.12 million after receiving four bids.
A 17th-storey unit, which had one bid, sold for $2.08 million.
Mok Sze Sze, managing partner at SRI, said she was pleased with the outcome of the Sept 23 auction at her firm’s Great World City office.
She said the turnout had been good, with around 70 registered bidders present in person, although six properties were ultimately withdrawn after failing to receive any bids or meeting their reserve prices.
“I must say we were expecting more participation, based on the response from the (property) viewings, but I heard there were a few (potential buyers) who were held up at work and couldn’t come to the auction, so that kind of affected the outcome,” said Mok.
She added that SRI will await instructions from professional services firm Deloitte to determine the next steps for the six properties that failed to sell at the auction on Sept 23.
A separate auction on the same day at brokerage ETC’s office at the UIC Building in Shenton Way closed without any sale of the nine properties on offer, which comprise eight luxury apartments and a factory.
The properties listed included a luxury penthouse at South Beach Residences owned by money laundering suspect Su Yongcan.
The 6,727 sq ft four-bedroom penthouse, which had a guide price of $25.3 million, was withdrawn after no bids were made.
It is among the 26 properties put up for sale in the first tranche of auctions.
Su, who fled Singapore before police operations in August 2023, was among 15 suspects linked to the case who agreed to surrender their assets, valued at around $1.85 billion in total, in exchange for the withdrawal of Interpol notices against them.
The penthouse at South Beach comes with grey marble flooring, a raindrop chandelier and a large open balcony overlooking the Esplanade and Marina Bay.
The auction at ETC included a total of seven other luxury apartments in South Beach Residences, 8 Saint Thomas and Paterson Suites, and an 8,800 sq ft factory in Kaki Bukit.
Joy Tan, head of auction and sales at ETC, said it will get instructions from Deloitte on whether to go into private treaty talks with potential interested parties for the nine withdrawn properties.
Except for three two-bedroom condos at South Beach Residences which have slightly lower opening prices than their guide prices, the remaining six properties were put on the auction block at their respective guide prices.
The 26th-floor two-bedder in Beach Road had a guide price of $4.76 million, but opened at $4.6 million.
The 37th-floor unit had a guide price of $4.45 million, but opened at $4.3 million.
The 41st-floor unit had a guide price of $5.32 million, but opened at $5.2 million.
Despite the slight discounts for these three units, they received no bids.
Only the Kaki Bukit factory, which had an opening price of $3.63 million, attracted a sole bid at $3.1 million.
The other eight properties did not attract any bids.
Before the auction, Su’s penthouse was among those that saw more than 10 inquiries from Singaporean buyers, and received eight viewings.
The Kaki Bukit factory and the Paterson Suites unit also attracted more than 10 inquiries, while the two 8 Saint Thomas units received a total of 30 inquiries.
Speaking about the eight luxury apartments that received no bids, Tan said buyers are “still doing final calculations or haven’t decided what to buy”.
The ETC auction attracted a fair share of curious observers, including an elderly man who declined to be named.
The man said he had also attended the Knight Frank auction on Sept 17 and found it “disappointing that there were no sales at both auctions”.
An earlier auction by Knight Frank on Sept 17 saw the realtor withdraw seven properties for failing to meet their reserve prices.
The properties comprise a total of six luxury apartments in Gramercy Park and Sloane Residences, and a Suntec Tower One office.
Private treaty negotiations are now under way for the seven properties, Tricia Tan, Knight Frank’s director of auction and sales, told The Straits Times.
The luxury apartments, Suntec Tower One office space and factory that went under the hammer on Sept 17 and Sept 23 are among the first batch of more than 80 properties to be auctioned as part of Deloitte’s strategy to manage, oversee and liquidate non-cash assets seized in the nation’s largest money laundering case.
The properties will be progressively put up for sale in phases between September 2026 and mid-2027 and will be open to the public for bidding.
All proceeds from the sale of the assets will be paid into the Consolidated Fund, which is analogous to a bank account held by the Government. - The Straits Times/ANN
