Three Singaporeans have been jailed for up to 14 years for being behind Shanghai's "biggest money-laundering bust".

Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court yesterday sentenced Loh Foy Tau, 30, and Daniel Mok Kwok Kee, 42, to 14 years in jail, and Lee Kee Yong, 38, to 13 years imprisonment.

The trio and 34-year-old Fujian Native Chen Peixiang were found guilty of transferring 5.3 billion yuan (S$1 billion) illegally between Chinese and foreign bank accounts, between January 2004 and April last year.

The transaction were made via 68 accounts set up with 11 major Chinese banks. For his part in the operation, Chen was sentenced to nine years in jail and fined 120,000 yuan, according to a report in The Straits Times today.

The illegal gains of the three Singaporeans, which totalled up to 4.7 billion yuan, will be confiscated.

Family members of the three Singaporeans were shocked at the heavier than expected sentences and hope to appeal against the court ruling.

Loh's father, who was present in the Shanghai court yesterday, blamed the heavy sentence on the Chinese media's sensational reporting of the case. He said that the Chinese media may have just helped to lengthen the jail terms as they had earlier speculated that the offenders could face prison terms of at least five years each. Chinese media has also described the operation of the four men as the biggest "underground bank" in Shanghai since 1949.

"We feel the media has brought about a big disaster," the elder Mr Loh, 60, told The Straits Times. He called the sentence "unfair" and "heavier than what anyone in the world have expected".

His sentiments were shared by other relatives of the three men in Singapore.

Mok's brother, 39, a businessman, said: "What we are going to do is to appeal. I can't believe it's 14 years. It's not murder or arson, you know."

Mok's lawyer in Shanghai, Mr Xiao Wanhua, however, said that the "chances of an appeal being successful are quite low" in Chinese courts.

The three Singaporeans had claimed that they were ignorant of Chinese fund-transfer laws during their one-day trial on June 16.
They claimed that had only been depositing or remitting yuan on instructions from their clients and their firm in Singapore - currency exchange operator Bloomberg Enterprises (BE).

BE then had continued to deny any involvement in the case.

Earlier, it said Loh quit the company last year to run his own business in China. BE also denied any relationship with Mok or Lee.

The three men will be deported to Singapore on completion of their jail terms.