RM4BIL NOOSE TIGHTENS ON NAJIB’S NECK: FINALLY JOHARI ADMITS SRC MONEY FROZEN IN BSI BANK BUT WHAT & WHY IS IT DOING THERE?

Finance Ministry-owned SRC International’s invested money is stuck in BSI Bank as the Swiss bank is under investigation linked to 1MDB, said Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani.

“Most of their (SRC) money that has been invested, they parked it under BSI Bank.

“Because BSI bank is under investigation, I was told by the management of SRC that the money is in BSI bank but it was frozen and therefore they cannot take back the money.

“But I cannot give you the details any more than that,” he told reporters after his keynote address at the 21st Malaysian Capital Market Summit at Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was responding to a question on SRC’s plans to pay the annual interest to civil service pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), whom the state-owned firm borrowed RM4 billion from.

Johari said that they do indeed have a plan in place to pay KWAP its interest but he declined to divulge more information.

SRC pays annual interest of RM164 million to KWAP but the amount is estimated to increase to RM660 million next year, to pay down the principal loan.

BSI Bank faces criminal proceedings for, among others, failing to adhere to anti-money-laundering regulations in handling transfers linked to 1MDB, following an investigation led by Swiss and Singaporean authorities.

Back in May, Singapore had also ordered BSI Bank to be shut down in the city state.

Switzerland’s financial regulator, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) had also ordered similar action, approving EFG International’s complete takeover of BSI.

This was on condition that BSI will be dissolved within 12 months through its integration into EFG International.

MKINI