David James Roach, the suspect in the Standard Chartered Bank robbery which took place on 7 July 2016, has been successfully extradited to Singapore. Roach arrived in Singapore on 17 March 2020 to face charges of robbery and removing the benefits of his criminal conduct from Singapore (i.e. money laundering).
Singapore has been working closely with various jurisdictions to secure Roach’s return to Singapore. Roach was arrested in Thailand in July 2016. On 11 January 2018, Roach was deported from Thailand after serving an imprisonment term for the commission of criminal offences in Thailand, and arrived in London the same day. Singapore then sought the assistance of the UK authorities to arrest Roach, with a view to securing his extradition to Singapore.
In August 2018, the UK Magistrate, having decided that the requirements for Singapore’s extradition request under UK law had been met, sent the case to the UK Secretary of State to decide whether to extradite Roach to Singapore on two charges of robbery and money laundering. The UK Secretary of State ordered the extradition on 23 October 2018. On 31 October 2018, Roach applied to the UK High Court for permission to appeal against the Magistrate’s decision to send the case to the UK Secretary of State. The UK High Court refused Roach’s application on 13 August 2019.
Roach renewed his application to the UK High Court for permission to appeal. On 31 October 2019, the UK High Court granted Roach permission to appeal but limited this permission to his extradition on the money laundering charge. On 4 February 2020, the UK High Court heard and dismissed Roach’s appeal.
On 17 February 2020, Roach applied for an order to reopen extradition proceedings and also to stay extradition proceedings pending the determination of the application to reopen. The application was rejected by the UK High Court on 5 March 2020.
With the assistance of the Metropolitan Police Service, Roach was handed over to the Singapore Police Force’s custody on 16 March 2020. He will be charged in court on 17 March 2020.
The Singapore authorities will do whatever is necessary and permissible within our legal framework to pursue and bring to justice those who commit crimes in Singapore, regardless of nationality and where they might have fled to. We will also not hesitate to take firm action against these individuals, and will seek an appropriate sentence if they are convicted.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
17 March 2020 @ 10:30 AM