1MDB
1MDB probe: Ex-BSI banker gets 54 months’ jail for money laundering, cheating
SINGAPORE – A Singapore court jailed a former wealth manager of Swiss bank BSI for four and a half years on Wednesday for money laundering and cheating in a case linked to an investigation involving the Malaysian fund 1MDB. The former banker, Yeo Jiawei, is serving a 30-month term on charges of perverting the course of justice by urging witnesses to lie to police and destroy evidence during the investigation into illicitly transferred funds linked to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Yeo, 34, who denied perverting theRead More
Singapore slaps fines on Credit Suisse and UOB in money laundering probe of Malaysian development fund
Singapore’s central bank has fined Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank (UOB) for breaches relating to the scandal-hit Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), it said in a statement on Tuesday The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it has imposed a 700,000 Singapore dollars ($505,000) fine on Credit Suisse and a 900,000 Singapore dollars ($649,000) penalty on UOB. The two banks were found to have breached several anti-money laundering requirements. The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s headquarters in Singapore “These include weaknesses in conducting due diligence on customersRead More
Chinese deals in Malaysia under scrutiny
China’s growing involvement in Malaysia has been praised and panned in recent years. The Sunday Times looks at how its widening presence is drawing increasing attention in the first of a two-part series. Tomorrow, why the promise of new ports in Malaysia with help from China may not materialise. Shannon Teoh Malaysia Bureau Chief and Trinna Leong Malaysia Correspondent In Kuala Lumpur The slew of projects and investments by China’s state-owned enterprises and their soft loans have been a major talking point in Malaysia since 2015, when they helped prop up stateRead More
Ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei jailed 30 months for witness tampering in 1MDB investigation
SINGAPORE: Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei was sentenced to 30 months’ jail on Thursday (Dec 22), for tampering with key witnesses in the money laundering investigation linked to Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He was found guilty of all four charges on Wednesday, for attempting to frustrate the Commercial Affairs Department’s (CAD) investigation into his alleged involvement in illicit transactions worth tens of millions, as well as to cover up his ties to prominent Malaysian businessmen Low Taek Jho and Eric Tan Kim Loong, who are both implicated in theRead More
Banker in 1MDB case worked with Malaysian PM’s friend: witness
[SINGAPORE] A private banker on trial in Singapore for his alleged role in Malaysia’s 1MDB fund scandal worked closely with a friend of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, a court heard Tuesday. A prosecution witness told a district court that Singaporean Yeo Jiawei, 33, left his job at the local branch of Swiss bank BSI in 2014 to work with Low Taek Jho, a family friend of the Malaysian leader, and they conducted business in a secretive way. Allegations of misappropriations of billions of dollars from 1MDB through money-laundering haveRead More
Singapore orders bank closure and fines over 1MDB links
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has ordered a Swiss merchant bank to close and fined two other banks for breaching anti-money laundering controls. The action follows an investigation into money flows linked to the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. Falcon Bank will lose its merchant bank status in Singapore. Its branch manager was arrested last week. South East Asia’s biggest bank DBS has been fined S$1m (US$726,000; £589,000) while UBS will have to pay S$1.3m. Malaysian PM under pressure over 1MDB scandal 1MDB: The case that’s riveting Malaysia The USRead More
Malaysia 1MDB investigation: US seeks to seize $1bn in assets
The US Justice Department is looking to seize more than $1bn (£761m) in assets as part of its investigation into Malaysia’s state fund 1MDB. Lawsuits filed in Los Angeles by the Justice Department allege there was “an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated” from 1MDB. The fund was set up in 2009 to turn Kuala Lumpur into a financial hub. But, the lawsuits say, billions of dollars were instead fraudulently diverted from 1MDB. It says “multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates” were responsible for diverting money between 2009Read More
1MDB pays coupon for debt after missing two interest payments
KUALA LUMPUR (BLOOMBERG) – Malaysia’s troubled state investment company 1Malaysia Development Bhd paid the coupon on its Islamic debt after missing two payments on other securities earlier. 1MDB undertook the scheduled payment of 143.8 million ringgit (S$48.1 million) on its 5 billion ringgit 5.75 per cent notes due 2039, according to an e-mailed statement. The company had previously missed the coupons for two sets of dollar-denominated bonds amid a dispute with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co., which had guaranteed the debt. That led to a default by 1MDB in April,Read More
Singaporean ex-BSI private banker Yeo Jiawei charged amid 1MDB probe
A Singaporean ex-BSI private banker has been charged with receiving benefits from criminal conduct, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said on Friday (April 22). Mr Yeo Jiawei, 33, a former wealth planner with the Singapore unit of Swiss private bank BSI, was charged with an offence under the the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act. “As investigations are on-going, no further details are available at this time,” said a statement released by the AGC in response to press queries on Friday (April 22). According to theRead More
Mystery deepens over $4.7 billion Malaysia’s 1MDB sent to BVI entity
ABU DHABI/KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) – The mystery over who controlled a British Virgin Islands-registered company that received US$3.5 billion (S$4.7 billion) from Malaysia’s scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB deepened on Monday (April 11) when a company in the Middle East with an almost identical name said the BVI firm did not belong to it. Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS said in a joint statement the BVI firm with an almost identical name, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, “was not an entityRead More