Singapore did not start an investigation on a money laundering scandal involving over S$1.8 billion of assets due to a request by Chinese government, the Minister for Home Affairs and Law said.

Singapore has been working on the probe for “many, many months,” and any suggestion that the investigation is related to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s Aug. visit to Singapore “would be absurd,” K Shanmugam said in a Lianhe Zaobao interview.

Read more: Singapore Asks Banks to Probe Ties With Laundering Suspects