Genneva gold scam: Police to apply to distribute $1.5m in seized assets, says Shanmugam

The police will be making a court application to distribute seized assets valued at over $1.5 million from the multimillion-dollar gold investment scam by Genneva, said Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said on Tuesday (Jan 13).

Shanmugam was responding in a written reply to a parliamentary question by Aljunied MP Sylvia Lim, who asked about the case and whether victims would be able to file claims to the recovered proceeds.

According to Shanmugam, who is also Coordinating Minister for National Security, the six individuals involved were charged in 2019.

From 2020 to 2025, five of them were convicted in court of various offences, including fraudulent trading, cheating, and money laundering, while court proceedings are still ongoing for the remaining individual. 

Shanmugam said that the distribution process is "complex" due to the large number of potential claimants, and that the police will notify them on the filing of their claims in due course.

Gold investment scam

Genneva was a Singapore-registered gold investment company that sold gold bars under a buyback scheme between 2008 and 2012. 

Under the scheme, Genneva sold gold bars to customers and promised returns on their investment over a contract period.

Customers were told to deposit their gold bars with the company for inspection purposes and were promised an equivalent quantity of gold after three working days. 

According to the police, Genneva reportedly collected around 3,500 kg of gold from the customers, but only returned 2,940 kg — the balance was sold, pawned or used to fulfil new sales. 

Genneva eventually ran out of gold bars to return to its customers when the collection of gold bars for the "inspection" exercise slowed down in September 2012, which prompted police investigations.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com