SINGAPORE: There will be tougher financial penalties to combat money laundering in the property sector after a new Bill was passed on Tuesday ( Apr 8 ).
The Anti-Money Laundering and Another Matters ( Estate Agents and Developers ) Bill will, among other things, impose economic sanctions on estate firms and their agents on a “per contravention”, instead of a “per event” basis.
This is if they contravene any policy or provision of a code of practice, morals and conduct relating to cash fraud, violence financing or development funding.
The conditioning of sentence structures will strengthen the warning influence of the existing government, said Second Minister for National Development and Finance Indranee Rajah.
” In the real estate market, land agents, salespersons, and developers play an important role in detecting and deterring illegal activities, alongside economic institutions, attorneys, and law practice companies”, she said.
” This Bill is portion of our continuing efforts to boost our ability to detect and deter such unlawful activities within the real estate business, thereby reinforcing our commitment to mark out the trafficking of legal proceeds and financing of illegal activities through Singapore”, she added.
THE NEED FOR MORE DETERRENCE
While Singapore has developed a robust risk management framework for the real estate sector, Ms Indranee said that the current penalty framework, which allows fines to be imposed on a “per case” basis does not provide” sufficient deterrence”.
This is because the potential monetary benefits that property agencies and agents might get for facilitating illicit transactions could be significantly higher than the maximum financial penalty of S$ 200, 000 ( US$ 148, 000 ) for agencies, or S$ 100, 000 for agents, she said.
Under the new measures, errant property agencies and agents will now be subjected to a maximum penalty of up to S$ 5, 000 per contravention under the Council for Estate Agencies ‘ ( CEA ) Letter of Censure regime.
Estate agents and salespersons who commit more serious breaches may face disciplinary action before a Disciplinary Committee, which is an independent tribunal comprising members from CEA’s disciplinary panel.  ,
Currently, the committee may impose a financial penalty of up to S$ 200, 000 per case on property agencies or S$ 100, 000 “per case” on agents. Under the amendments, these limits will now be used on a “per contravention” basis.
Other measures as part of the Bill include the mandating of real estate agencies and their salespersons to conduct due diligence measures on “unrepresented counterparties”, not just on their clients.
Real estate agencies, salespersons and developers must also consider , proliferation financing risk moving forward.
This will further align Singapore’s regulatory regime with Financial Action Task Force ( FATF ) standards, said Ms Indranee. The FATF sets international standards to tackle money laundering, terrorism financing, and proliferation financing.
In 2024, an inter-ministerial committee that reviewed Singapore’s anti-money laundering regime had recommended clarifying the requirements for the real estate sector.
The committee, chaired by Ms Indranee, was formed after Singapore’s biggest money laundering scandal which saw the arrest and sentencing of 10 foreigners and seizure of more than S$ 3 billion in assets.