THE Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) has cancelled the registration of the filing agent linked to the 10 foreigners nabbed in 2023’s mega anti-money laundering bust. The registration belonging to the agent’s qualified individual has also been invalidated.

Acra said on Friday (Jan 19) that its moves against LW Business Consultancy, along with LW’s qualified individual and director Wang Junjie, follow breaches of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) controls under the Acra (Filing Agents and Qualified Individuals) Regulations 2015.

Filing agents and qualified individuals provide corporate secretarial services for business entities. These include helping their customers to incorporate companies, file annual returns, and fulfil other filing requirements under Acra’s purview.

They are required to undertake customer due-diligence measures in line with Acra regulations, and satisfy statutory requirements to be registered, or to continue to be registered.

The Business Times understands Wang to be linked to the 10 foreigners arrested in Singapore’s largest anti-money laundering bust last year.

The amount of assets and cash seized or frozen under the probe hit S$3 billion on Friday (Jan 19), as a fresh lot of assets ranging from cars to handbags and luxury items were reported seized or issued with prohibition-of-disposal orders.

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Last October, The Straits Times had identified Wang – then listed as a director or shareholder of 185 companies in Singapore – only as “JJ”. He was reported to have been the one common denominator among the 10 accused persons.

Acra said that AML/CFT breaches committed by LW Business Consultancy included the failure to perform the additional customer due-diligence measures required for customers not physically present during onboarding.

Another breach resulted from the company’s failure to inquire about the existence of a beneficial owner in relation to some of its customers. A beneficial owner is an individual who owns all assets or undertakings of the customer, whether the customer is a body corporate.

The filing agent also failed to perform risk assessments in relation to some of its customers.

As LW Business Consultancy’s director and qualified individual, Wang was found to have failed to supervise his employees in their work, which in turn led to the breaches.

Therefore, Acra determined that he “no longer met the fit and proper criteria to remain registered as a qualified individual”.

The authority said its investigations into LW Business Consultancy and Wang were part of its ongoing probe “into the role played by filing agents and qualified individuals involved in one of Singapore’s largest anti-money laundering operations”.

“As there are ongoing investigations related to this matter, we are unable to share more details.”

Between 2021 and 2023, Acra cancelled or suspended the registrations of 17 filing agents and qualified individuals.