Closure of 1MDB-linked Swiss bank in Singapore viewed with deep concern

Two recent developments relating to 1MDB has the Citizens' Declaration secretariat deeply concerned, said its secretary, Kamarudin Jaffar, today.

One is the closure of the Swiss BSI Bank and initiation of criminal proceedings by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, due to breaches of anti-money laundering regulations there, linked to 1MDB.

The other is the suppression of a Bank Negara letter dated April 6, 2016, by the Public Accounts committee chairperson.

Kamarudin Jaffar added these developments would only tarnish Malaysia's reputation and credibility.

“This letter confirmed that Good Star Limited was owned by Low Taek Jho (also known as Jho Low), and not Petrosaudi International.

“The document substantiates The Wall Street Journal's allegation “that out of the US$1.83 billion investment 1MDB carried out with Petrosaudi International Limited, at least US$1.03 billion had been directly misappropriated to Good Star Limited, owned by Jho Low”.

Yet, Kamarudin said,  both Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali, and Bank Negara have said that the 1MDB case is now closed.

However the governments of at least seven countries around the world, he added, have ongoing investigations and pending criminal cases linked to 1MDB, and they do not seem to agree with the conclusions of the AG and Bank Negara.

“The disclosures related to 1MDB continue to drag Malaysia’s international reputation, financial credibility and fiscal integrity into greater disrepute and notoriety.

“The secretariat continues to maintain that there is an urgent need to pave the way for much needed democratic and institutional reforms, and to restore the important principle of the separation of powers between the executive, legislature and judiciary, which will ensure the independence, credibility, professionalism and integrity of our national institutions,” he said.

The secretariat, Kamarudin added, is of the view that all those responsible for this grand corruption, which had occurred on an unprecedented scale, must be held accountable and brought to justice.

Government's assertions contradicted

It was reported three days ago that WSJ claimed Bank Negara wrote a letter confirming that Good Star Limited was owned by Jho Low. This contradicted the government’s assertions that Good Star Ltd, which has since been dissolved, belonged to former 1MDB joint-venture partner PetroSaudi International.

A copy of the letter was tweeted by WSJ and re-tweeted by its Asia chief editor Tom Wright.

On May 28, the Monetary Authority of Singapore ordered BSI Bank, which is in the limelight for its dealings with 1MDB, to close down.

Reuters reported that Singapore's central bank withdrew the Swiss bank's status as a merchant bank in the city state and the reasons for this included "serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of the bank's operations and gross misconduct by some of the bank's staff".

It further reported that such action had not been taken by the Singapore authorities in the last 32 years.

"This is the first time that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is withdrawing its approval for a merchant bank since 1984, when Jardine Fleming (Singapore) Pte Ltd was shut down for serious lapses in its advisory work," the central bank was quoted as saying. - Mkini