More suspicions about 1MDB’s RM1bn in Singapore

Ex-editor questions why use small private bank, names people who should be called up.

KUALA LUMPUR: Why did the troubled government company 1Malaysia Development Bhd deposit RM4 billion in funds with a small private Brazilian-owned bank smaller than Affin Bank, former NSTP group editor A Kadir Jasin asked today.

Writing in his blog, Kadir, a stern critic of 1MDB’s affairs, said if the company had sound reasons for parking the money in Singapore, 1MDB could have used Maybank Singapore or well-known international banks such as Citibank, JP Morgan or HSBC.

“Why BSI (Banca della Svizzera Italiana), a smallish private bank?” Kadir wrote. “Keeping the money in Singapore is mysterious enough and keeping it with a private bank makes it suspicious.” He pointed out that such private banks were “usually used by rich individuals and secretive family companies who do not want too many questions asked about their sources of the wealth”.

1MDB’s decision to park the money in Singapore with BSI “only heightens the suspicion that something is amiss”, Kadir said. Investigators must make sure that every single sen purportedly deposited with BSI was accounted for.

Kadir also said contacts in Singapore had suggested that Malaysian authorities investigating 1MDB should seek help from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority “whose tasks include investigating money-laundering activities”.

They had also specifically mentioned Patrick Mahony and Ashmore Investment Management Ltd in connection with 1MDB’s controversial dealings with the Saudi Arabian company PetroSaudi, with which 1MDB had entered into a joint venture involving US$1 billion, and which became the subject of controversy.

Kadir said his Singapore contacts had also suggested that the investigators summon Goldman Sachs and its partner Tim Leissner, over its role in setting up 1MDB and later with its finances.

He pointed out that Leissner was the new husband (since 2013) of US model-actress Kimora Lee Simmons, a good friend of the Prime Minister’s family, and whose web sites contain photographs of her and Leissner with Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor.

Kadir was in Singapore accompanying former finance minister Daim Zainuddin, to whom he is closely associated, to pay last respects to the late Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister.

He said the RM1 billion deposited in Singapore should have been brought back to Malaysia to pay off 1MDB’s debts to Maybank and RHB Capital. Instead it “borrowed” from telecommunication and entertainment tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan while denying media reports that it did so, he said.

1MDB had taken out the money from Malaysia just days before the 2013 general election and deposited in the Cayman Islands, an offshore tax haven. “Then some weeks ago, purportedly on its way home, it was mysteriously deposited in Singapore allegedly to fulfil Bank Negara’s regulations,” Kadir said.

He noted that BSI is a Lugano-based Swiss private bank which became part of Brazilian group BTG Pactual. Its Singapore branch has a capital of US$200 million and its latest financial accounts record a loss of US$722 million.

“Investigators must ask if 1MDB’s managers check the credibility and financial strength of banks they used,” Kadir said.