'Forget reporting large sums, if gov't won't probe 1MDB transfers'

Bank Negara Malaysia should to do away with the requirement to report on large amounts in transactions, if it doesn't want to probe 1MDB transfers, a lawmaker said today.

Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng argued that if both the police and Bank Negara refuse to investigate or take action against two senior AmBank officers who had allegedly assisted in the transfer of money from 1Malaysia Development Bhd or the company’s subsidiary to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s accounts.

Lim said this after lodging a police report at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters based on a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report which had claimed that Najib’s family friend Low Taek Jho had supposedly handled his personal bank accounts at AmBank with the assistance of an AmBank banker and a senior AmBank executive.

“I'm lodging the report to urge the police and Bank Negara to investigate whether action made by these two individuals is against the Anti-Money-Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Regime (AML/CFT Regime) and other relevant Acts.

“If Bank Negara and the police don't want to act on my report, then the requirement to report on huge amount of money transfers is irrelevant and redundant,” he told reporters outside the police station today.

Under the Anti-Money-Laundering Act (AMLA), reporting institutions such as banks must file a cash threshold report (CTR) for cash transactions exceeding RM50,000 or whichever amount specified.

Meanwhile, Lim said he was forced to lodge the report after there was no response from Bank Negara, the police and AmBank to speak out on the matter after the WSJ’s expose on Sept 6.

“The WSJ article said that the two AmBank officers tried to keep the money transfers a secret from Bank Negara. This sounds like a case of money-laundering,” he pointed out.

MACC’s delay to act questioned

Meanwhile, citing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) quick action when it comes to purported corruption within the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Selangor DAP committee member Young Syefura Othman questioned the commission’s delay to act over issues related to 1MDB.

“When it comes to football, they do their job promptly but with the 1MDB issue which involves the rakyat’s money, they don’t do as such.

“If it is indeed true what the Wall Street Journal report had claimed, I hope that the MACC, Bank Negara and the police would do their job to investigate the two individuals,” she said.

According to the WSJ report, Low’s lawyer declined to comment on the matter, as did AmBank and its two bankers supposedly involved in dealing with Low and Najib’s bank account. Former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz also reportedly declined to comment.

The report claimed that bank documents show Najib had written over 500 cheques out of accounts supposedly funded through 1MDB, totalling US$400 million.

Najib had previously been accused of pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars in 1MDB funds, through intermediaries, into his personal bank accounts at AmBank.

However, he said he has done no wrong and described the transactions into his accounts as donations from a Saudi prince.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali agreed with Najib and decided not to press charges against the prime minister after an investigation.

Malaysiakini has contacted AmBank for their comments on the matter and is awaiting their reply. -Mkini