$1b anti-money laundering blitz: Man arrested was director of No Signboard Holdings

SINGAPORE - The man who jumped from a bungalow to evade arrest in an anti-money laundering blitz linked to $1 billion in cash and assets was a director of No Signboard Holdings.

Su Haijin, 40, a Cypriot national, was a director of the restaurant operator from October 2021 to June 2022, a search on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) revealed.

The company’s 2021 annual report, filed last October, lists Su as holding a 20 per cent stake in the company.

The report said he resigned voluntarily as a non-executive director to focus on other commitments.

A spokesman for No Signboard Holdings told The Straits Times on Thursday that Su was a non-executive director at the company.

She said he was not involved in the company’s business, operations and did not participate in any of the board’s meetings or decision-making processes.

She added there were five other directors at the company during the time.

Su was one of 10 foreign nationals from Fujian charged in court on Wednesday over their suspected involvement in offences including forgery, money laundering and resisting arrest.

These foreigners, aged between 31 and 44, were arrested on Tuesday following an islandwide raid by more than 400 officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Commercial Affairs Department, Special Operations Command, and Police Intelligence Department.

The suspects are believed to be connected to one another, and none is a Singaporean or permanent resident.

Of the 10, three were Chinese nationals.

As for the remaining seven, three were Cambodian, two were Cypriot, and the other two were Turkish and a Ni-Vanuatu national.

The Acra search on Su showed he had the most number of appointments out of the 10 people arrested in the operation.

Su was a shareholder and director of Aiqinhai Investment, a private company limited by shares, and held the same roles at mobile phone dealer Daily Glory International.

On Wednesday, Su was charged with one count of resisting arrest at his good class bungalow at Ewart Park near Holland Road.

The police said that on Tuesday, officers identified themselves outside Su’s bedroom and ordered him to open the door.

Instead, he allegedly jumped out of the second-floor balcony and fractured his hands and legs. He was found hiding in a drain by the police.

When details of his charge were read out in court, Su claimed he thought the knocks came from someone who wanted to kill him.

He said in Mandarin he had an intimate encounter with a woman in Dubai, and her boyfriend had threatened to kill him because of it.

In August 2021, The Business Times reported that a Cypriot citizen by the name of Su Haijin had bought a pair of adjacent bungalows in Sentosa Cove for a total of $36.37 million.

His case will be heard again next week.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.