OCBC Marketing Sentosa Site to Recover Losses From $2.2B Money Laundering Case

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) is putting up for sale a residential plot on Singapore’s Sentosa island, after repossessing the property from a suspect arrested in the city-state’s S$3 billion ($2.2 billion) money-laundering case.

OCBC has appointed Edmund Tie to manage an auction of the 19,550 square foot (1,816 square metre) seafront plot at 69 Ocean Drive with a guide price of S$27.1 million, the property agency confirmed to Mingtiandi on Tuesday. The auction for the seized site will be held on 24 April.

The bank is launching the sale, which was first reported by the Straits Times, in an effort to recover a reported S$20 million in outstanding debt incurred by Su Baolin, who was among 10 mainland Chinese arrested in August of last year on charges of money laundering and forgery. As of January, the police revealed that it had either seized or frozen assets worth S$3 billion in the case.

“We commenced the legal process to recover the overdue home loan through the sale of the residential property at 69 Ocean Drive early in August 2023. With the court judgement speedily obtained in OCBC’s favour on 5th January 2024,” the bank said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. “Thereafter, the repossession and sale of the property is currently in motion.”

Shovel-Ready Project

Prior to the asset seizure, Su had obtained approval from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 2022 to build a two-storey detached house on the Sentosa Cove site spanning 9,775 square feet with a swimming pool, although the plot remains undeveloped.

The guide price for the tender works out to S$1,386 per square of site area, representing a 31 percent markdown from the S$39.33 million, or S$2,012 per square foot, which Su had reportedly paid in March 2021 to acquire a villa on the plot, which he later demolished.

Based on a Business Times account at the time he acquired the property, Su had Cambodian citizenship and was from Xiamen in China’s Fujian province.

Joy Tan, Edmund Tie’s head of auction and sales, said the plot is ready for immediate construction and future development would benefit from unobstructed views of the sea and the central business district. The rectangular site has 39 metres of waterfront.

“The successful bidder can consider either to construct a sizeable villa or to seek approval from both Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and the relevant authorities on land division to build two smaller detached houses,” Tan told Mingtiandi on Tuesday.

Home to oceanfront villas, mansions and luxury condominiums, Sentosa Cove is the only place in Singapore where foreigners can buy landed homes without needing approval from regulators.

Loss Recovery Efforts

Citing court documents, Bloomberg reported in December that OCBC had filed a claim to recover outstanding debt of S$19.7 million from Su, including S$19.5 million owed on a housing loan and over S$220,000 in credit card debt.

The bank at that time asked for the court’s permission to seize the mortgaged Sentosa Cove site.

Su was arrested in August of last year with nine other suspects in his good class bungalow on posh Nassim Road where police seized more than S$777,000 in cash, 33 luxury bags and watches as well as 75 pieces of jewellery.

Authorities also issued prohibition of disposal orders for seven properties and six vehicles linked to the suspects, effectively freezing more than S$76 million in assets. Su is currently facing a total of 10 charges, including using forged documents to cheat banks, according to local media.

Before OCBC put together its tender for the Sentosa Cove site, its competitor, DBS in December last year began marketing for sale more than a dozen of shophouses linked to the suspects, with Bloomberg reporting in February that the bank is working with receivers to recover losses of around S$100 million as a result of the money laundering incident.