Another five similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Zhang, a Chinese national, was initially charged with three counts of forgery-related offences and last Friday was handed five additional charges involving forgery and his inability to account for about S$36 million (US$26.4 million) that flowed into his bank accounts.

Zhang’s 15-month jail term – to be backdated by about eight months to the date of his arrest last August – is the harshest meted out so far in relation to the S$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) case.

The four others dealt with before him were handed between 13 and 14 months’ jail each.

The court heard that Zhang was one of 10 individuals arrested during an island-wide raid on August 15, 2023 as part of the authorities’ crackdown on suspected money laundering activities.

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More than S$131 million worth of assets comprising cash, cryptocurrency and vehicles, among others, were seized from Zhang.

The court heard that between July and October 2020, deposits amounting to S$24 million were made into Zhang’s CIMB account in Singapore.

When the bank asked the accused to explain the source of the monies and provide documentary support, Zhang claimed that the funds came from him selling a property in Macau.

He later submitted a document dated June 20, 2020 purportedly showing the sale.

Prosecutors said Zhang knew this was a forged document because he did not own such a property to begin with, and that he had obtained the document from a person specifically to back up his claim to the bank.

He had similarly provided CIMB another forged document some time in August 2020.

This time, the document purportedly showed that he received a loan of HK$7.5 million, to account for a deposit of such an amount into his account.

Zhang failed to satisfactorily account for his possession of this sum, which is reasonably suspected to represent benefits of criminal conduct, at least indirectly or in part. This became the subject of the third charge against him.

The prosecution sought a total sentence of between 14 and 16 months’ jail for the offences.

They noted the transnational element in Zhang’s offences, adding that there was some level of “sophistication” involved in the forgery-related charges, which were done to circumvent anti-money-laundering measures.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ryan Lim said: “Offences which affect the delivery of financial services or the integrity of the economic infrastructure do attract [a need for] general deterrence, and our submission is that this is precisely such a case”.

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The defence asked for a slightly lower sentence of not more than 14 months’ jail.

Defence lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam cited as mitigating factors his client’s guilty plea, his cooperation with the authorities and the voluntarily giving up of his assets.

He added that “all show that this is a man who is sorry for what he has done”.

In sentencing, District Judge Ow Yong Tuck Leong said the court needs to send a strong signal that money laundering offences cannot be tolerated and will be dealt with severely.

He noted how the forgery offences were committed to deceive the local banks and facilitate the transfer of large sums of money into Singapore.

“[The offences] have undermined the confidence and integrity of our banking system,” said the judge.

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This, he said, would lead to additional safeguards to be implemented, which in turn would increase compliance costs that are ultimately borne by the wider community.

The other four offenders linked to the money laundering case already dealt with by the courts received the following sentences:

• Su Wenqiang, 32, was sentenced to 13 months’ jail on April 2, 2024

• Su Haijin, 41, was sentenced to 14 months’ jail on April 4, 2024

• On April 16, Wang Baosen, 32, was sentenced to 13 months’ imprisonment

• 42-year-old Su Baolin was sentenced to 14 months behind bars on April 29

For each count of fraudulent use of forged documents, Zhang could have been sentenced to jail for up to four years, fined, or both.

For not being able to account satisfactorily his possession of property reasonably suspected of representing benefits from criminal conduct, he could have been handed a fine of not more than S$150,000, jailed for up to three years, or both.