Britain’s National Crime Agency has frozen at least $33 million of properties owned by Xu Haika, a Chinese, Cambodian and Vanuatu national who has been identified as a suspect in a $2.3 billion Singapore money laundering case previously covered by OCCRP.
Land registry records obtained by Transparency International UK and shared with OCCRP show that the National Crime Agency lodged freeze orders for Xu Haika’s properties on June 5 this year.
OCCRP first reported on Xu Haika’s portfolio of U.K. real estate in November 2025, which include 16 luxury apartments in two adjoining new build developments, in the heart of central London’s Tottenham Court Road.
Xu Haika did not reply to questions sent to Flanton & Co, the accountancy firm that registered his two U.K. companies that own the properties. Neither he nor Flanton & Co responded to previous questions about his properties or his links to the Singapore criminal case.
While Xu Haika has not been criminally charged in the U.K., the NCA freezing order was granted under civil recovery legislation which allows law enforcement to target property suspected of being derived from unlawful conduct.
Xu Haika purchased the properties through U.K. companies that he incorporated as sole shareholder, buying them between July and August 2023, around the time Singapore police disrupted what was allegedly the country’s largest-ever money laundering operation.
Singapore authorities have called Xu Haika a suspect in the money laundering case, which rocked the city state in 2023. He fled following August 15, 2023 law enforcement raids that arrested 10 individuals — who were all reportedly from China but held various passports — and seized $2.3-billion worth of assets, which were deemed to be the proceeds of illegal gambling and cyber scam operations.
Several others who evaded arrest or left prior to the city-wide police crackdown have subsequently negotiated settlements with the Singapore government as authorities have sought to recover assets in the case. Nearly two years later, Xu Haika is still under investigation as a suspect, the Singapore Police Force previously told the Straits Times and OCCRP in 2025.
In a response to follow up questions sent by the Straits Times, the SPF referred to their previous replies, and said they would not issue any new statements in relation to Xu Haika at this time.
Andrew Wong (The Straits Times) contributed reporting from Singapore
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