AP, Singapore, 28 Oct 2011 – Singapore’s central bank says the city-state may impose harsher punishments on those caught financing terrorism or laundering money.
Central bank Managing Director Ravi Menon said in a speech posted Friday on the bank’s website that Singapore also plans to make laundering proceeds from tax fraud a criminal offense.
Menon said the bank will also increase resources for enforcement of suspicious transactions laws.
The U.S. Justice Department indicted four Singaporeans on Tuesday for allegedly plotting to export 6,000 radio control devices to Iran.
Some 16 of the devices were of a type used in improvised explosive devices in Iraq. Singapore authorities arrested the suspects Monday and a preliminary hearing for their extradition to the U.S. is scheduled for next week.