JULIE BORT
Business Insider
JUN. 17, 2017

The US government has filed a lawsuit asking to take ownership of 2.5 million shares of preferred Palantir stock that were allegedly caught up in Malaysia’s massive 1MDB scandal.

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to nab a huge assortment of assets, including some of Palantir’s stock. The government says these items were bought with allegedly stolen money from Malaysia 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund (1MDB).

The 1MDB fund was set up by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to promote economic development. However, US authorities allege that between 2009 and 2014, billions of dollars were stolen from the fund by multiple people and then used to buy all sorts of things. Read the rest of this entry »

by Shamim Adam and Laurence Arnold
Bloomberg
16th June 2017

Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1MDB, was supposed to attract foreign investment. Instead, it has spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world that have cast an unflattering spotlight on financial deal-making, election spending and political patronage under Prime Minister Najib Razak. A Malaysian parliamentary committee identified at least $4.2 billion in irregular transactions.

1. What is 1MDB?

It’s a government investment company — full name, 1Malaysia Development Berhad — that took shape in 2009 under Najib, who went on to lead its advisory board. Its early initiatives included buying privately owned power plants and planning a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The fund proved better at borrowing — it accumulated $12 billion in debt — than at luring large-scale investment. Read the rest of this entry »

by Greg Farrell
Bloomberg
16 June 2017

The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to recover $540 million in assets — including art works, jewelry and film rights — that it says were purchased with funds misappropriated from Malaysia’s 1MDB wealth fund.

It’s the latest attempt by the U.S. government to seize assets linked to the tainted fund, bringing the total sought by the Justice Department to $1.8 billion.

From 2009 through 2015, more than $4.5 billion belonging to 1Malaysia Development Bhd was diverted by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to complaints filed Thursday in the Central District of California.

The items cited in the new lawsuit as subject to seizure include a Park Avenue condominium, diamond jewelry, shares of fitness club operator Fly Wheel Sports Inc., a painting by Pablo Picasso titled “Nature Morte au Crane de Taureau” and rights to the 2014 film “Dumb and Dumber To.” Read the rest of this entry »

By Eileen Ng | AP
Washington Post
June 16 2017

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian sovereign wealth fund has rejected U.S. Justice Department allegations over money laundering and alleged theft of a treasure trove of assets including diamonds, a yacht and private jet and penthouse apartments.

The Malaysian government-controlled fund known informally as 1MDB and other officials in Kuala Lumpur insisted Friday that there was no proof linking the fund to such crimes.

On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil case seeking recovery of $540 million in assets that it says were stolen from 1MDB, a fund intended to promote economic development projects. Overall, the Justice Department alleges that more than $4.5 billion has been stolen from the fund. Read the rest of this entry »

David J Lynch in Washington
Financial Times
June 15, 2017

Latest move to recover money allegedly stolen from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund

The US Department of Justice on Thursday moved to seize an additional $540m in assets purchased with funds stolen from Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, including a luxury yacht, a Picasso painting, jewellery and rights to the movie Dumb and Dumber.

The suit, which was filed in federal court in Los Angeles, is the latest move in an ambitious US effort to recover money allegedly siphoned from the fund in a sophisticated operation that ran from 2009 until 2015.

The US now estimates that a total of $4.5bn was pilfered by Malaysian public officials and their associates including Jho Low, a well-connected Malaysian businessman who held no formal role in the project. Read the rest of this entry »

When I read of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech yesterday on the importance of loyalty at a function of 13 uniformed services, I am reminded of United States President Donald Trump’s demand for loyalty from the former FBI Director, James Comey, whom he subsequently sacked.

Malaysians should owe loyalty to the nation, not to any individual, regardless of whether right or wrong – as the latter is the worst form of disloyalty to the nation, subordinating national interests to “loyalty” to any one person!

Today, Najib reminded social media users to spread positive news about the country and not negative ones and that they should use their influence to help instil a love for the nation.

I cannot agree more with the Prime Minister and nothing is more hurting to loyal and patriotic Malaysians than to see the country regarded in a very poor light by the international community.

This is a problem that must be addressed by the Prime Minister and the government. Read the rest of this entry »

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should confirm or deny that he had three other Ambank accounts which were active at the material time of the alleged payment of RM9.5 million to lawyer Shafie Abdullah as well as the payments themselves.

Silence is simply not an option for the Prime Minister if he wants Malaysians and the world to believe that he is committed to the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance.

The Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali also cannot keep his silence to the claim by the PKR National Vice Chairman and MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli, who said that information on the flow of funds from these three accounts were detailed in a flowchart shown by the Attorney-General during a press conference in January 2016.

A prompt and straight-forward confirmation is called for if Najib had three other Ambank accounts at the relevant period concerned, or there should be denial; similarly, if Najib had paid Shafie RM9.5 million from his personal banking accounts – confirm if true, giving the reasons for the payment; deny, if untrue!

Why is Najib finding it so difficult to do a very simple thing? Read the rest of this entry »

Chan Chao Peh
The Edge
June 02, 2017

SINGAPORE (June 2): This past week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) imposed penalties on two more banks and said it had completed an extensive, two-year-long probed into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

But charges could be brought against more individuals in the future, The Edge Singapore understands.

Following the latest announcement by MAS of financial penalties issued against UOB and Credit Suisse, the total of banks that have faced MAS action over their roles in the 1MDB saga have been brought to eight.

These eight banks have been fined S$29.1 million in total, while two of them – BSI Bank and Falcon Bank – have been ordered to close in Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »

A week ago, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa said that the government is studying the possibility of using the polygraph – lie detector – test as a mechanism to help curb cases of corruption among civil servants.

Ali Hamsa said the government was looking at using such tools as part of its initiatives to strengthen the integrity of government agencies.

This is a good idea, especially as it was recengly reported by an establishment “mainstream media” that an entire division of a government agency, which collects revenue for the country, had failed a polygraph test showing that most of the senior officers had been stealing money and abused their position for gratification – one reason why the polygraph test for civil servants was discontinued.

Bearing in mind the proverb “A fish rots from the head down”, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be the first to take the polygraph test and answer questions specifically on the 1MDB scandal and his private banking accounts by a panel of independent and eminent Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »

Anita Gabriel
Business Times, Singapore
May 31, 2017

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore ended its “most extensive” ever two-year check on banks involved in the illicit fund flows of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) with two more banks getting the rap, bringing the total number of banks here to eight that have been stung in various degrees by the Malaysian scandal.

The last two banks, Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank (UOB), were fined S$700,000 and S$900,000 for seven and nine breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) rules, respectively, with MAS noting however that none had “pervasive” control weaknesses.

Their fines are also the lowest among the banks that were earlier hit with financial penalties that ranged between S$1 million (DBS Bank) and S$13.3 million (BSI Bank) as a result of MAS’ scrutiny into 1MDB-related money flows within the financial system here that has led to unprecedented actions against errant institutions and individuals. Read the rest of this entry »

Yasmine Yahya
Straits Times
MAY 30, 2017

SINGAPORE – Regulators have wrapped up a two-year review of banks involved in 1MDB-related transactions known to-date but the after-effects of this probe will likely reverberate through the financial industry for many years to come.

As the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) itself noted in a statement on Tuesday (May 30), the review is the most extensive it has ever taken.

The investigation was a deep dive into all the transactions that have flown through Singapore and were related to Malaysian fund 1MDB, which is under investigation in at least six countries over billions of dollars of suspected misappropriations.

It led to the shutting down of two banks, BSI Bank and Falcon Bank and financial penalties totalling $29.1 million being imposed on eight banks – BSI, Falcon, DBS, UBS, Standard Chartered Bank, Coutts, Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank. Read the rest of this entry »

by Andrea Tan
Bloomberg
May 24, 2017

Kelvin Ang Wee Keng was fined S$9,000 ($6,477) after he admitted that he made a corrupt payment to an analyst in a Singapore case related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd investigations.

Ang, 35, was a broker with Kim Eng Securities Pte until 2015 and made about S$100,000 annually in commissions, prosecutor Vincent Ong said in a Singapore State Court on Wednesday. He was charged a year ago for what authorities said was corruptly giving S$3,000 to a research analyst to speed up the preparation of a favorable valuation report. Read the rest of this entry »

The Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad, who launched the “Anti-Corruption Revolution Movement” (GERAH) two days ago, has said in an exclusive interview that the MACC had set a three-year deadline for Malaysia to move high up the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the MACC does not expect any improvement in the TI CPI until three years later in the 2020 TI CPI? Read the rest of this entry »

Trinna Leong
Straits Times
10th May 2017

Minister and 1MDB president are said to be no longer in charge of key projects linked to state fund

The fallout continues over the aborted Bandar Malaysia property development deal, as reports emerged yesterday that key personnel tasked with negotiating the multibillion-dollar project have been relieved of their duties.

Malaysia’s Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani and troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy were part of the so-called Budiman committee, a government unit set up to manage restructuring and divestment of 1MDB assets. The Malaysian Insight (TMI) reported that both men and the committee are no longer spearheading 1MDB-linked prime developments in Kuala Lumpur, namely Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia.

The news comes after the government’s sudden decision last Wednesday to abort a RM7.41 billion (S$2.4 billion) deal inked in 2015 to jointly develop Bandar Malaysia, the country’s biggest property project on the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, with private conglomerate Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC). Read the rest of this entry »

Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
7th May 2017

Property failure and Abu Dhabi deal leave taxpayer on the hook, says MP

In an ebullient New Year’s message, Najib Razak declared that 1MDB’s “major challenges” were behind it. But critics of the Malaysian prime minister have seized on two apparent reversals as evidence that efforts to clear the scandal-hit Malaysian state investment fund’s debts are in disarray.

A crucial part of Mr Najib’s claim was a $1.7bn deal to sell a stake in a Kuala Lumpur property project to a China-backed consortium. That deal has now collapsed, with questions raised about China’s role in vetoing the agreement.

Meanwhile, 1MDB made an agreement earlier this month to pay Ipic, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, $1.2bn to settle an embarrassing dispute in which Ipic was claiming about $6.5bn.

The Malaysian fund is at the centre of multiple global investigations into alleged grand corruption. Swiss investigators allege that up to $4.8bn was diverted from companies linked to 1MDB,which was set up by the Malaysian premier.

“With the latest collapse of the proposed [property project] sale, the entire ‘rationalisation’ exercise . . . hailed by the prime minister and cabinet has been completely unravelled,” said Tony Pua, an MP with the Democratic Action party, Malaysia’s main opposition group. Read the rest of this entry »

Shannon Teoh
Straits Times
8th May 2017

The chief of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Mr Arul Kanda, was last Tuesday personally overseeing the dry run for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s site visit the next day to the Bandar Malaysia development.

Over a year ago, Mr Arul brokered the deal to sell 60 per cent of the upcoming township by 1MDB for RM7.4 billion (S$2.4 billion), one of the main planks of the plan to retire the state firm’s whopping US$11 billion (S$15.5 billion) debt.

But the lavish party to be attended by Datuk Seri Najib and the top brass of the Malaysia-China consortium that bought the stake didn’t happen, as the deal was aborted last Wednesday.

More worryingly for the Malaysian government, another key plank to bury 1MDB’s controversial dealings – a settlement with an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund over a US$6.5 billion claim – still needs a great deal of work.

The past fortnight was supposed to help draw a line under 1MDB’s controversial dealings. It turned out to be two weeks of unfulfilled hopes. Read the rest of this entry »