Dinosaur skeletons price £12.4million are seized from Singaporean businessman ‘linked to £2.5billion cash laundering’ in addition to 9 London flats and Chinese artwork
Dinosaur skeletons worth £12.4million have been seized from a Singaporean businessman who is linked to an alleged £2.5billion money laundering case.
The fossils of two Allosauruses and a Stegosaurus had been bought by tycoon Su Binghai at Christie’s auction house in London last year.
The assets were seized by the National Crime Agency under the Proceeds of Crime Act, alongside nine £18million Westminster luxury apartments.
Eleven Chinese artworks worth £400,000 were also forfeited, including a £151,200 floral bowl from the Yongzheng period.
The case was brought against Binghai, his company Su Empire Limited, and his wife at the High Court in London on Wednesday.
The businessman is reportedly at the centre of a £2.5billion money laundering case in Singapore that has seen 10 foreigners jailed and barred from entering the country.
Binghai left the country with his wife in August 2023.
He surrendered assets worth more than £240million – including a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a Ferrari F8 Spider and a Ferrari Stradale – to the state, reported The Strait Times.
The fossils of two Allosauruses and a Stegosaurus had been bought by tycoon Su Binghai (pictured) at Christie’s auction house in London last year
The dinosaur skeletons worth £12.4million were seized by the National Crime Agency
The huge Jurassic dinosaur skeletons are around 150 million years old. One quarter of the proceeds of the sale of the recovered assets will be paid into a bank account nominated by Binghai
Binghai’s driver, Liew Yik Kit, was jailed in June for three months after he admitted he lied to police about his boss’s supercars.
The huge Jurassic dinosaur skeletons are around 150 million years old, had been bought at auction last year for £12.4million.
The auction house released photos of them at the time, resembling a display from a museum.
The 11 Chinese artworks recovered in the case had been bought at auction in 2022.
One quarter of the proceeds of the sale of the recovered assets will be paid into a bank account nominated by Binghai, according to a court order.
The Times reported Binghai was also ordered to pay £343,000 of rental income
A spokesman for Christie’s told The Times: ‘We have a robust global AML [anti-money laundering] programme and, in line with our legal and regulatory obligations, we can confirm that we followed all necessary AML procedures and we have co-operated fully with law enforcement.’
