It was recently reported in Washington Times that money laundering in Singapore is becoming a growing problem. (http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040930-051027-1931r.htm)
The report added that Singapore is close to three (Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar) of the six countries listed by the inter-government Paris-based Financial Action Task Force as non-cooperative in the fight against money laundering.
An example of the problem relates to the question of a secret account set up for Mr Kim Jong-Il, North Koreas dictator-general, in Singapore. Americas Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) recently reported that South Korea had allegedly funneled as much as $500 million to Kim Jong Il’s Singapore bank account. (http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=cache:R5sqHkKEpc4J:www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/kim/etc/script.html+kim+jong+il+frontline+Singapore+bank+account&hl=en)
Another report cited that “A banking center where the money could have been transferred secretly with no difficulty, Singapore was the only place other than Pyongyang or Beijing where such contacts were made. North Korea watchers here could think of no other reason for the two to have met there, rather than in Beijing.”
(http://www.google.com.sg/search?q=cache:O1x1a6qzbFkJ:www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/south_korean_spy_chief_who_paved.htm+kim+jong+il+Singapore+bank&hl=en)
As if the news is not aggravating enough, our very own Streats newspaper allowed the North Korean government to place a full-page advertisement, detailing Kims late father’s Kim Il Sung virtues: Today the world public calls the DPRK a fortress of independence and peace, a place which holds the rudder of world politics and steeris mankind towards the building of a free and peaceful new world. They laud Kim Jong Il as the sun of the 21st century and pay their respects to him.
Yet, when Mr J B Jeyaretnam and Dr Chee Soon Juan wanted to buy some space in the Straits Times to congratulate Singaporeans on National Day, the newspaper said No political ads please.
Try making sense out of this one.