WHEN Singapore deported convicted money launderer Zhang Ruijin to Cambodia in June, this was done without any prior discussion with the Cambodian authorities, Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam said in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 6).
“We do not consult foreign countries beforehand, as a general rule, as to whether a traveller is allowed to go there,” Shanmugam said, in response to a question from Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim.
“The foreign country can, as a sovereign state, choose to allow entry, or it can choose to disallow entry when the person arrives on its shores.”
Zhang was expelled from Cambodia in July, after being deported there.
Shanmugam also stressed that, as a general rule, the government does not disclose any discussions that it might have with foreign governments on deportations, citing operational security and intelligence concerns as some factors.
“It’s not in (the) public interest to disclose it,” he added.
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In a supplementary question, Lim asked if the government had concerns over whether foreign offenders would choose to be deported to a “more favourable ” jurisdiction to avoid prosecution for other crimes.
In response, Shanmugam noted that under Singapore’s law, foreign nationals can choose to be deported to any destination their passports allow.
“What we think about what will happen to them in the receiving country… is legally irrelevant,” said Shanmugam, who is also the minister for law. “It’s not something that the government can take into account.”
Zhang, who was convicted on two counts of forgery and one count of money laundering, was sentenced to 15 months’ jail in April and forfeited about S$118 million in assets.
He was among 10 foreign nationals convicted in Singapore’s recent money laundering case that saw more than S$3 billion in assets seized, and among seven offenders who were subsequently deported to Cambodia.
