1 MDB : Promise of a RM 120 million reward makes AMBank and ANZ boards vulnerable to whistle blowers

by Ganesh Sahathevan



There is likely to be more than one AMBank employee who is aware of this and related transactions

ANZ's former CEO Mike Smith who led the bank's Asian expansion would know from the time he spent at HSBC in Kuala Lumpur that  Malaysians in general are always (and I mean always) on the look out for a deal to at least supplement meager incomes, if not get rich quick.

Given that deal making propensity ,news of the the SEC's recently reported USD 22 million payout (RM 88 million) to a whistle blower  ,the largest this year and second only to its record payout of USD 30 million (RM 120 million)  will prove too much for AMBank staff to resist.

Given the central role that AMBank and its ANZ led management played in the 1 MDB theft, which the US Justice Department described as the biggest case of kleptocracy ,fraud and theft it has ever seen, AMBank staff can be expected to have already done the math and determined that speaking to the SEC might well set them up for life.

David Gonski and ANZ's AMBank money laundering problem has gotten even worse.



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Whistleblower Gets $22 Million From SEC in Second-Biggest Award
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is giving $22 million, its second biggest payout ever, to a corporate insider who helped the regulator uncover a well-hidden fraud.

The whistleblower provided a “detailed tip and extensive assistance” that helped the SEC stop illicit conduct at the individual’s employer, according to a statement released Tuesday. The agency didn’t provide any information on the person’s identity or the company involved, citing federal law and the need to protect confidentiality.

The award was the largest since a $30 million payment announced in 2014. Whistleblowers are eligible for payouts if they voluntarily provide the SEC with unique information that leads to a successful enforcement action. Compensation can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the money collected in a case beyond $1 million. The SEC said it has awarded more than $100 million since the inception of its whistle-blower program in 2011.




“Company employees are in unique positions behind-the-scenes to unravel complex or deeply buried wrongdoing,” said Jane Norberg, acting chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “Without this whistleblower’s courage, information, and assistance, it would have been extremely difficult for law enforcement to discover this securities fraud on its own.”