Tan Kin Lian - Perspectives
Prevent money laundering in real estate transactions
Minister Indranee Rajah explained in Parliament the framework to prevent money laundering. Her long speech can be found here.
From her speech, it is clear that the prevention of money laundering is a complicated and difficult process. I am puzzled that the government expects the gatekeepers (i.e. property agents, agencies and developers) to take the responsibility of identifying and dealing with money laundering.
I see the following weakness in this approach:
1. The gatekeepers do not have the training and experience to deal with this complex problem.
2. They have a conflict of interest. They want to close the property transaction and earn the commission or, in the case of developers, the profit.
What is a more effective approach? I suggest the following:
1. The gatekeepers can help the purchasers to get the relevant documents that are needed for the assessment.
2. The assessment should be carried out by trained assessors working for the government. These assessors will gain the experience and skill from doing this work daily.
3. The backroom assessors can also use the extensive data that is available to them, and also use the appropriate analytical software to identify patterns that suggest possible money laundering risks. These data and artificial intelligence are not available to the frontline gatekeepers.
If the government takes responsibility for this task, and appoint the relevant qualified people to handle this task, it is more likely that money laundering can be identified earlier and appropriate action can be taken.
I believe that my approach is more effective and make more sense. I do not believe in pushing responsibility for difficult tasks to the people in the front line, as they are not likely to handle these tasks well.
Tan Kin Lian
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The government have ALL the power and the means to put things right on the specific matter of money laundering.
This is unique in Singapore where the citizens generally grumble and grumble but actually do NOT follow it up by getting the necessary action taken by the government. Hence, Singaporeans are well known as the complaint kings!
NOT happy? Simply vote the government out! That is NOT hard to do. Yet, it is never done! Since 1959 until this day of my writing this missive.
Dannyhua512@gmail.com 04 Oct 2023