KUALA LUMPUR (May 30): Singapore’s casino industry has been named as one of four sectors deemed at medium-high risk of being exploited for environmental crime money laundering, although no specific cases have been identified.

Citing a new report issued by multiple Singapore agencies, industry magazine Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) on Thursday said the “Environmental Crimes Money Laundering National Risk Assessment” was jointly published by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the Ministry of Finance on Wednesday, providing a detailed overview of the nation’s environmental crime money laundering risk environment, and identifying key threats, vulnerabilities, controls and areas of enhancements.

IAG said the report, which claims environmental crimes generate between US$110 billion (RM518.54 billion) and US$281 billion in criminal gains globally every year, highlights Singapore’s status as an international financial centre, and an international trading and transport hub with a highly externally oriented economy, as the reason it is utilised by criminal groups as a transit country for environmental crimes, such as those associated with illegal wildlife trafficking or illegal logging and waste trafficking.

It said while banks and remittance agents are named as high-risk sectors, casinos rank alongside money changers, corporate service providers and virtual asset service providers as medium-high-risk sectors.

IAG said the report stated that the casino industry is “largely cash-based, and cash can be used to purchase casino chips, which act as a store value, and can be accepted as an alternative to money. As such, criminals could purchase casino chips to launder proceeds of environmental crimes in the integration stage”.

The report by the agencies added that Singapore’s casinos had filed suspicious transaction reports relating to adverse news of environmental crimes linked to their casino customers, indicating a “certain level of risk awareness on the part of casinos regarding potential laundering of environmental crimes proceeds through their operations”, and pointing to “the vulnerability of the casinos to environmental crime money laundering”.

However, the report stated that, to date, the agencies are “not aware of any cases where casinos have been used for environmental crime money laundering in Singapore”.

Casinos must, it added, stay vigilant because although there are no known instances of environmental crime money laundering in Singapore, there have been cases elsewhere in Asia.