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Singapore to 1MDB-embroiled BSI Bank: We’re shutting you down!
#Singapore charges Yeo Jiawei with money laundering after #1MDB probe…
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24 July 2016
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The Singapore money changer in the middle of the 1MDB saga
An FBI investigation into 1MDB and subsequent statements from MAS named several S’porean bankers and banks. A local money changer has been dragged in as well.
NG JUN SEN (ngjunsen@sph.com.sg) reports
CONTROVERSY: It was business as usual at Raffles Money Change at Clifford Centre on Friday.
TNP PHOTO: NG JUN SEN
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RMC is now caught up in the global storm of investigations into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) when it was named – albeit perhaps erroneously as “Raffles Cash Exchange” – in a 136-page investigation report by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Wednesday.
US prosecutors alleged that RMC was responsible for wiring more than US$12.8 million (S$17 million) from a bank account linked to a 1MDB conspirator, said the FBI report.
COMPLICATED: A flow chart drawn up by reporter Ng Jun Sen to map out how money allegedly flowed from 1MDB. TNP PHOTO: NG JUN SEN
This money is believed to have been part of more than US$1 billion that was siphoned from 1MDB bond proceeds and was originally meant to go to energy investments in Abu Dhabi.
Instead, US investigators said the money travelled to a Singaporean bank account that was allegedly owned by Malaysian Eric Tan Kim Loong – a friend of Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
The FBI report added: “Frequent use of currency exchange brokers… is a technique commonly used by individuals engaged in money laundering and other unlawful conduct to move money in a way that is less likely to be traced by law enforcement and regulatory officials.”
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17 July 2016
malaysiakini.com @malaysiakini
Sources: UBS, DBS, Falcon face S’pore scrutiny over 1MDB transactions
Singapore’s central bank is scrutinising several banks, including UBS and DBS Group Holdings, to see if they broke anti-money laundering rules in handling transactions linked to scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1MDB, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is looking at several aspects of the banks’ operations including whether they were diligent enough in knowing who their customers were and what the source of their funds was, and whether they were particularly careful in screening politically-exposed persons such as government officials, banking and legal sources aware of the review said.
The probe could lead to fines and other penalties if lapses are found, said the sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. It is unclear which transactions by the banks are being examined.
Switzerland’s Falcon Private Bank and Coutts International, which is owned by Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privee, are also among the banks under review, they said.
UBS, Coutts, and DBS, which is Singapore’s top lender, all declined to comment.
When asked about the MAS review, a Zurich-based spokesperson for Falcon said: “We have transparently shared our view and have nothing to add.”
Falcon, which is owned by one of the world’s leading sovereign wealth funds – Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) – has previously said it is in contact with Singapore’s central bank and cooperating with authorities.
The MAS is in talks with several banks and will make an announcement on any punitive action against them after the review is completed, sources said. The full details are not known at this stage.
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‘Gross misconduct, poor management oversight’
The latest probes follow MAS’s decision in late May to close down the operations of Swiss private bank BSI AG in Singapore for serious breaches of anti-money laundering rules, the first time in 32 years it has taken such action against a bank. MAS said then that there had been gross misconduct by some of BSI’s staff and poor management oversight of the bank’s operations.
https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/348816?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
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weehingthong 