Written Reply to Parliamentary Question on Whether High Value Goods Have Been Used to Circumvent the Law on Cross Border Movements of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments

Question:

Miss Cheng Li Hui: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs whether the Ministry has detected attempts to circumvent the law on cross border movements of physical currency and bearer negotiable instruments under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 with the use of high value goods instead of physical currency and bearer negotiable instruments.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1.   The Cross Border Cash Reporting Regime (CBCRR) under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act 1992 is part of the anti-money laundering regime in Singapore.

2.   Under the CBCRR, travellers arriving or departing Singapore are required to report any movement of physical currency and bearer negotiable instruments exceeding S$20,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency).

3.   This CBCRR reporting requirement does not extend to goods.

4.   In the past three years, for cases of money laundering that were investigated, we have not detected money laundering involving the cross-border movement of high value goods by travellers to circumvent the CBCRR reporting requirement.

5.   Besides CBCRR, our anti-money laundering regime includes reporting requirements for suspicious transactions. Entities and individuals, such as banks, gemstones dealers and precious metal dealers, who in the course of their trade, profession, business or employment, suspect that any property is linked to criminal conduct, must lodge a suspicious transaction report with the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office.

6.   In addition, Singapore has built strong international partnerships to tackle money laundering, including through information sharing with our foreign counterparts.