Archive for category Financial Scandals
Khalid should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as overewhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be guardians of the Constitution, law and order in the country and not play political games
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Police on Friday, 18 November 2016
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, should stop acting as if he is mere apologist for UMNO’s Red Shirts which will undermine police honour and morale as the overwhelming majority of policemen and policewomen are professional and non-partisan who want to be the guardians of the Constitution, law and order of the country and do not want to play any political games.
The judgment by the High Court judge Justice Nathan Balan yesterday that the police are legally-bound to ensure the Red Shirts movement holds its counter-rally at a different location to prevent clashes with Bersih 2.0 supporters tomorrow should remind Khalid of his sworn and supreme duties to serve the country and not any single individual and to uphold the Constitution, law and order in the country.
In his ruling rejecting an application for an injunction to prevent Bersih 5 and a counter-rally from taking place in the capital city, Justice Nanthan said Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act stated that the police must redirect any counter-rallies if they knew that clashes were imminent.
He said: “Section 18 of the PAA acts as a safety valve to diffuse any potential conflict therefore it is the duty of the police to prevent a clash or conflict should there is a possibility that it would eventuate.”
It is most shocking that in the past few weeks, the highest authorities in the land, including the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Home Minister, and the Inspector-General of Police seem to be totally ignorant of the existence of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012 which was enacted to deal with the situation created by Red Shirts want to have a counter-rally in response to Bersih 5 rally.
Let all Malaysians be aware of Section 18 of the PAA on “Counter Assembly” which reads:
“18. If the Officer in Charge of a Police District receives a notification of a counter assembly and it is evident that the organization of the counter assembly will cause conflict between the participants of the assemblies, the Officer in Charge of the Police District shall give an alternative for the counter assembly to be organized at another time, date or place.” Read the rest of this entry »
Prime Minister and Inspector-General of Police will be guilty of grave dereliction of duty if they fail to uphold the law and allow the Red Shirts to go on provocative rampage, resulting in clashes and ugly incidents on Saturday
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 17 November 2016
Prime Minister Najib Razak has expressed concern over an imminent physical clash between ‘red shirt’ and ‘yellow shirt’ protesters during the Bersih 5 peaceful rally in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
He said: “If one side wants to protest and the side that wants to protect the government is compelled to come out … but I don’t want any physical clash.”
The Prime Minister and the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar will be guilty of grave dereliction of duty if they fail to uphold the law to ensure peace and order and instead, allow the Red Shirts to go on a provocative rampage resulting in clashes and ugly incidents on Saturday.
The Prime Minister and the Inspector-General of Police could not be ignorant of Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, which was enacted to deal with exactly the type of situation which the Red Shirts have created – a counter-demonstration.
The Red Shirts are fully entitled to hold a counter-demonstration in support of Najib’s undemocratic and kleptocratic rule, but they are not entitled to threaten or provoke breaches of the peace and acts of violence. Read the rest of this entry »
Ex-BSI banker trial: Yeo Jiawei slept at Jho Low’s house, wore his clothes, says prosecutor
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals on Thursday, 17 November 2016
Grace Leong
Straits Times
Nov 17, 2016
DPP accuses defendant of downplaying ties with Malaysian tycoon
Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei was so close to controversial Malaysian tycoon Jho Low that he slept at his apartment, flew on his private jet and even wore his clothes, a court heard yesterday.
The claims arose yesterday as Yeo’s previous testimony, including claims over referral fees he reaped and his relationship with Mr Low, came under intense scrutiny by prosecutors.
Yeo, who faces four counts of witness tampering, has repeatedly downplayed his close ties to Mr Low, who is under investigation here and elsewhere over money-laundering claims linked to scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Read the rest of this entry »
Critic of Najib Razak, Malaysian Leader, Gets Prison for 1MDB Disclosure
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 17 November 2016
By RICHARD C. PADDOCK
New York Times
NOV. 14, 2016
BANGKOK — An outspoken member of Malaysia’s Parliament was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in prison for publicly disclosing classified information from an official audit into a scandal-plagued government investment fund.
A lower court ruled that the lawmaker, Rafizi Ramli, was guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act by possessing and publicizing information from the document. Mr. Rafizi, who has served in Parliament since 2013, could also lose his seat and be barred from running for office for five years.
Rights advocates said the prosecution and conviction of a sitting member of Parliament for speaking publicly was unprecedented and was aimed at silencing one of the government’s most vocal critics. Read the rest of this entry »
Time to stop all pretences and charade – Is the Najib government admitting “MO1” is Najib or not?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 17 November 2016
The time has come for the Najib government to act with dignity, decorum and honour and end all pretences and charade over the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit to forfeit US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion of multi-billion dollar international kleptocratic conspiracy of embezzlement and money-laundering of 1MDB funds.
In its latest propaganda campaign to go into the offensive to counter the long-standing blaze of adverse international publicity over the 1MDB scandal, the government propaganda arm, the Special Affairs Department (JASA) of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, has launched an initiative to reach out to university students both at home and internationally.
This surreptitious JASA campaign went to Australia last week to influence Malaysian students in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, but this was discovered by the Australian media, although Australian reporters were barred from the “private” 1MDB briefings organized by JASA which featured 1MDB chief executive Arul Kanda.
The Australian Business Review, in its report “Malaysia’s 1MDB in university hard sell” on Nov. 15, 2016, said Kanda when confronted by the media at the University of NSW refused to answer questions about “the alleged corruption, including the funnelling of hundreds of millions of dollars into the personal bank account of Mr Razak” and “was quickly ushered into a waiting car”.
The Australian Business Review, which said that a glossy 20-page booklet entitled “DoJ’s summons is questionable” was distributed at the JASA briefings, reported:
“The unsigned pamphlet also attempts to cast doubt that Mr Najib is the person referred to in DoJ court filings as ‘Malaysian Official 1’ and in the Malaysian media as ‘MO1’, and who is identified as the beneficiary of much of the brazen theft from 1MDB via an account at AmBank.
“’DoJ did not name MO1 because the complaint that was made did not contain information and evidence to link MO1 with any assets and criminal wrongdoing such as was mentioned in the report,’ it claims.
“But Malaysia’s Housing Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan in an interview with the BBC in September admitted Mr Najib was ‘MO1’.”
I call on the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Mohd Salleh Mohd Keruak to make public the JASA bookletentitled “DoJ’s summons is questionable” or is it a tendentious, scurrilous and disreputable publication which cannot stand public scrutiny and can only bring further shame and humiliation to the Najib government? Read the rest of this entry »
Is the Najib camp trying to ingratiate with the new Trump team by alleging that the US DOJ suit on 1MDB was part of US AG Loretta Lynch’s conspiracy to divert attention from Hilary Clinton’s email controversy and should be abandoned by the Trump administration?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Is the Najib camp trying to ingratiate with the new Trump team by alleging that the US DOJ suit on 1MDB was part of US AG Loretta Lynch’s conspiracy to divert attention from Hilary Clinton’s email controversy and should be abandoned by the Trump administration?
Two recent events seem to mark a new “offensive” by the Najib administration on the 1MDB global embezzlement and money-laundering scandal, viz:
• Najib’s written interview with Nikkei Asian Review seeking to claim credit that it was he himself who first instructed multiple authorities in Malaysia to conduct investigations to the 1MDB scandal and blaming the 1MDB issue of having become “highly politicized, with certain elements within Malaysia attempting to exploit it for their own personal political benefit” and “feeding foreign authorities with, at times, false or incomplete information”; and
• The latest round of propaganda offensive by Najib’s propaganda arm, the Special Affairs Department (JASA) of the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia, among Malaysian university overseas claiming that the US Department of Justice (DOJ) largest kleptocratic action in its US$1 billion forfeiture lawsuit against 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland because of over US$3 billion the international conspiracy of embezzlement and money-laundering of 1MDB funds was in part fuelled by US Attorney-General Loretta Lynch’s conspiracy to divert attention from Hillary Clinton’s email controversy.
The allegation that the US DOJ’s largest kleptocratic action against 1MDB under the US Kleptocratic Asset Recovery Initiative 2010 was partly fuelled by the Hillary-Trump presidential battle for the White House is doubly significant, firstly, because it is the first time that the Malaysian authorities have made such an allegation about the motivation of the US DOJ action against 1MDB; and secondly, it would appear to be a deliberate shift of Putrajaya’s 1MDB strategy to ingratiate with Trump team following the shocking Trump win for the White House bid, hoping to get the Trump administration to drop the DOJ suit altogether! Read the rest of this entry »
In Malaysia’s heartland, a call to action over corruption
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Daily Mail
By AFP
15 November 2016
With yellow flags waving and vuvuzelas blaring, a convoy of two dozen cars snakes into the sleepy Malaysian town of Batu Gajah, breaking the rural calm with warnings of corruption and national decay.
For nearly seven weeks, Malaysia’s leading pro-reform group has waged an information insurgency through towns and villages nationwide, shining light on a scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and state-owned fund 1MDB.
In public speeches, flyers and door-to-door canvassing, the unprecedented campaign attempts to explain a highly complex and seemingly distant affair in what is essentially hostile territory — Malaysia’s pro-government rural heartland.
“We have planted the seed. The seed where people actually start to ask what is (the) 1MDB scandal all about?” said Maria Chin Abdullah, chair of civil-society alliance Bersih, during a recent swing through rural central Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Some politicizing 1MDB for personal advantage, Malaysian leader says
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 16 November 2016
CK TAN
Nikkei Asian Review
November 15, 2016
KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says it was he who first ordered probes of a troubled state investment fund, and he charges that the issue has been politicized by “certain elements.”
Malaysian authorities, including a bipartisan parliamentary committee, had concluded that weaknesses existed in the management of 1MDB, but none of its executives have been charged so far on allegations of embezzlement. However, authorities in Singapore, Switzerland and the U.S. are probing entities and people related to 1MDB for possible money laundering and other offenses.
In written responses to questions from the Nikkei Asian Review ahead of a three-day visit to Tokyo that begins Tuesday, Najib also touched on Malaysia’s plans for high-speed rail as well as relations with China and Japan. Below are excerpts from the responses.
Q: Foreign governments are investigating the misappropriation of funds related to 1MDB. Do you consider these actions as interference? Will Malaysia reopen investigations into the fund following probes in foreign jurisdictions?
A: Malaysian authorities have actually led the way in investigations into 1MDB. It was I who first instructed multiple authorities in Malaysia to conduct investigations. For example, the company has been the subject of investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the auditor general, the police and the bipartisan parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, which includes opposition politicians. I have always made clear that full cooperation should be extended to any investigation provided it is in accordance with the laws of our country. Furthermore, as I have consistently stated, if any wrongdoing is proven, the law will be enforced without exception.
However, it is important to note that this has become a highly politicized matter, with certain elements within Malaysia attempting to exploit this for their own personal political benefit, and feeding foreign authorities with at times false or incomplete information. Those outside Malaysia cannot always appreciate these complexities, but it is something they should bear in mind to avoid becoming entangled in what has become a domestic political matter. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t forget 1MDB just yet
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 15 November 2016
By Zan Azlee
Asian Correspondent
14th November 2016
A LOT of things happening in Malaysia are grabbing headlines in the news media, from the martial arts obsessed racist red shirts who break concrete blocks on their heads while demonstrating silat skills and protesting against clean and fair elections, to Prime Minister Najib Razak singing karaoke with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
This is all fine and good. I mean, these are current events and definitely newsworthy to be in the media. What I am trying to say is that, although we can and do consume news that is absurd and amusing to our hearts, we should also not forget the news that is more important and has a more adverse affect on society.
Recently, news just broke about how the Malaysian government has refused to provide information and to collaborate with Switzerland’s authorities who are currently investigating corruption allegations within their banking system that is related to the 1MDB scandal, 1MDB being the controversy hit national sovereign wealth fund.
According to news reports, Malaysia is refusing to provide details to the Swiss authorities because apparently, the attorney-general’s office claims that there is an on-going police investigation by Malaysian police on the 1MDB. And this isn’t the first time they have refused to assist. Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB: Malaysia’s extraordinary financial scandal
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Daily Mail
By AFP
15 November 2016
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been under fire since 2014 over allegations that billions of dollars were looted from state investment fund 1MDB in an audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering.
On Saturday, an influential pro-reform group is planning a rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur to demand Najib’s ouster over the affair.
Here are some answers to key questions in the saga. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s 1MDB in university hard sell
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 15 November 2016
BEN BUTLER and KYLAR LOUSSIKIAN
The Australian
November 15, 2016
An investigation by US authorities into the alleged theft of billions of dollars from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB was in part fuelled by Attorney-General Loretta Lynch’s desire to divert attention from Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, according to materials distributed in private lectures given by the company’s chief executive Arul Kanda in Australia last week.
The glossy 20-page booklet claims the US Department of Justice investigation, which has so far resulted in the freezing of more than $US1 billion ($1.34bn) in assets allegedly removed from 1MDB, is “questionable, strange and bizarre” and threatens the stability of Malaysia.
When it was set up in 2009, 1MDB was touted as a development bank that would invest billions of dollars into energy, real estate and hospitality, but the DoJ alleges the pillaging of the fund began within months of its creation.
Under increasing pressure from the series of international investigations, 1MDB and the Malaysian Special Affairs Department, JASA, have been secretly shoring up support among backers of the country’s ruling party in a series of closed-door lectures at Australian universities. Read the rest of this entry »
MalaysiaKini commended for its frame-by-frame footage of the Jamal red-nose incident during the Red Shirts’ anti-Bersih outing at Ampang Point to highlight the provocation of kleptocrats and their ilk to sabotage Bersih 5
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Tuesday, 15 November 2016
Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, gender, age, region or politics, have a rendezvous with history at the Bersih 5 rally outside Dataran Merdeka on Saturday, November 19, to send a clear, united and unmistakable message to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Malaysians and the watching world of their resolve to reclaim Malaysia as a land of democracy and not to become a land of kleptocracy.
The conviction and jail sentence of one of the most outspoken leaders in Malaysia against corruption and abuses of power, Rafizi Ramli, MP for Pandan and Secretary-General of PKR, on two charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 for trying to unravel the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocracy scandal, and his disqualification to stand for election as an MP in the forthcoming 14th General Election, has highlighted the special pertinence and importance of Bersih 5 rally this Saturday.
Today, November 14, 2016 is a black day for democracy in Malaysia. It is however a great day for kleptocracy in Malaysia.
Let November 19, 2016 be a great day for democracy and a black day for kleptocracy in Malaysia.
Malaysians regardless of race, religion, gender, age, region or politics must reclaim the country as a democracy and not a kleptocracy – and let this begin on Bersih 5 on Saturday, culminating in the 14th General Election expected next year. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Jho Low was a big client who brought 1MDB deals to BSI’
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals on Monday, 14 November 2016
By Chan Chao Peh / The Edge Financial Daily | November 14, 2016
SINGAPORE: Low Taek Jho or Jho Low was an important client of BSI Bank (Singapore) Ltd because he brought a number of “very huge” deals to the bank, ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei told a Singapore court.
Yeo said Jho Low was a very important client of Yak Yew Chee, a senior relationship manager at BSI who was the person who gave instructions to him (Yeo) on what he (Jho Low) wanted done.
He described Jho Low as a “gatekeeper and adviser” to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Yeo is on trial for tampering with witnesses involved in Singapore’s investigations into the laundering of billions of dollars that belonged to 1MDB. He has also been charged with money laundering and the trial will start next April.
Last Friday Yak pleaded guilty and was jailed for 18 weeks and fined S$24,000 (RM72,850) for forging documents and failure to report suspicious transactions. He also forfeited a substantial part of the S$27 million he had earned for the billions of dollars in 1MDB related transactions. Read the rest of this entry »
Rafizi’s conviction, jail sentence and disqualification as MP confront Malaysians with the stark choice in 14GE whether they want democracy or kleptocracy in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Monday, 14 November 2016
November 14, 2016 is a black day for democracy in Malaysia. It is however a great day for kleptocracy in Malaysia.
Today, one of the most outspoken leaders in Malaysia against corruption and abuses of power, Rafizi Ramli, MP for Pandan and Secretary-General of PKR, was convicted on two charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 for trying to unravel the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocracy scandal, sentenced to 18 months’ jail each and will be disqualified from standing for election as a Member of Parliament in the next 14th General Elections unless his appeal against conviction and sentence could succeed in the higher courts.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak called for the rejection of hypocrisy in public policy and politics.
Is the Malaysian government led by the Prime Minister guilty of hypocrisy in public policy and politics, especially with regard to the greatest question confronting Malaysians today – whether Malaysia should be a democracy or a kleptocracy?
Singapore over the weekend saw the first criminal conviction linked to the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal when former managing director of BSI in Singapore, Yak Yew Chew, 57, pleaded guilty to four charges relating to forgery and failure to disclose information.
Yak was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail and a S$24,000 fine after he agreed to disgorge S$7.5 million and to co-operate with Singapore investigations into the multi-billion dollar international 1MDB kleptocratic, embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.
In Malaysia, our first criminal conviction is not to uncover and penalize culprits and criminals responsible for the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, which has caused the nation to suffer the international infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”, but against a person who had patriotically and valiantly stood up for full accountability and transparency for the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal! Read the rest of this entry »
14th General Election will be battle of democracy versus kleptocracy
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Sunday, 13 November 2016
The next General Elections will be a battle of democracy versus kleptocracy.
There is speculation that the next general elections would be held early next year. It could also be held in the second half of next year, especially after the 60th National Day celebrations centred on August 31, 2017.
Be that as it may, the voters of Malaysia should be asked to vote for democrats or kleptocrats, as to whether they want Malaysia to become a democracy or a kleptocracy.
What recently happened highlights the stark choice of the people between democracy and kleptocracy in the next general elections.
In the last two days, the international media have been screaming with headlines about the first criminal conviction linked to the 1MDB global financial scandal which took place in Singapore on Friday, viz:
• “Former BSI boss gets jail, fine in 1MDB-linked case” (Straits Times, Singapore);
• “Singapore Court Convicts Ex-BSI Banker in 1MDB Probe” (Wall Street Journal);
• “Former banker convicted in Singapore over 1MDB scandal” (Financial Times, London);
• “Singaporean banker jailed for role in 1MDB scandal” (Taipei Times);
• “Ex-BSI Banker Yak Found Guilty in Singapore 1MDB-Linked Case” (Bloomberg);
• “1MDB probe: Singapore banker Yak Yew Chee gets 18 weeks’ jail, S$24,000 fine” (Channel News Asia).
The common theme if these negative headlines is “1MDB”, a Malaysian state-owned investment fund supposed to attract foreign investment but instead spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world – and with Najib as the head of its advisory board exercising veto and final executive powers.
But the Malaysian government authorities and institutions pretend that these foreign criminal and regulatory investigations and actions linked to 1MDB’s international money-laundering forays do not exist. Read the rest of this entry »
Singapore Court Convicts Ex-BSI Banker in 1MDB Probe
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Sunday, 13 November 2016
By JAKE MAXWELL WATTS and P.R. VENKAT
Wall Street Journal
Nov. 11, 2016
Singapore is the first country to convict someone in the alleged fraud at the Malaysian state fund
SINGAPORE—A Singapore court Friday sentenced a key suspect in an ongoing probe into alleged misappropriation at Malaysian state fund 1MDB, in the first conviction of a person linked to the alleged multibillion-dollar fraud.
Yak Yew Chee, 57, the banker in charge of managing the relationship with 1MDB at the Singapore branch of Swiss bank BSI SA, on Friday pleaded guilty to two charges of forgery and two charges of failing to report suspicious transactions related to dealings with the fund. He was sentenced to 18 weeks imprisonment and a fine of 24,000 Singapore dollars (US$17,105), and agreed to surrender S$7.5 million in salary and bonuses previously frozen by investigators.
The conviction marks a milestone in the investigation of what happened at 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a fund set up by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 that raised as much as US$13 billion — with a public mandate to promote the country’s economic development. Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB probe: Singapore banker Yak Yew Chee gets 18 weeks’ jail, S$24,000 fine
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Sunday, 13 November 2016
By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
Channel News Asia
11 Nov 2016
SINGAPORE: Former private banker Yak Yew Chee, whose clients included Malaysian tycoon Jho Low and subsidiaries of Malaysia’s scandal-hit state fund 1MDB has been jailed 18 weeks and fined S$24,000.
Yak, 57, pleaded guilty on Friday (Nov 11) afternoon to four of seven charges: Two for forging reference letters vouching for the Low family and two for failing to report suspicious transactions involving tens of millions of dollars coursing through BSI bank in Singapore.
Mr Low was named on Thursday as a person of interest in Singapore’s ongoing probe into illicit transactions involving 1MDB, amid allegations he embezzled billions from the state fund. Read the rest of this entry »
Singaporean banker jailed for role in 1MDB scandal
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Sunday, 13 November 2016
Taipei Times
November 13, 2016
AFP, SINGAPORE
A Singaporean private banker was jailed on Friday on fraud charges relating to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal, becoming the first figure to be convicted in the international multibillion-dollar saga.
Allegations that huge sums were misappropriated from the Malaysian state fund through money laundering have triggered a massive corruption scandal that has embroiled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Prosecutors said Yak Yew Chee (易有志), a former managing director at the Singapore branch of Swiss bank BSI SA, helped manage funds linked to 1MDB, which was set up by Najib with the help of a close family friend, Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (劉特佐).
Yak, 57, who was also a private banker to Low, forged reference letters to Swiss banks and funds, and failed to report suspicious money transfers involving accounts belonging to his client, the prosecutors said.
He was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail after pleading guilty to four charges of forgery and failure to report suspicious transactions related to the investment fund.
He was also fined S$24,000 (US$17,000) by a Singaporean district court.
One of these transactions saw a 1MDB subsidiary transfer US$110 million, channeled through six banks and nine accounts, to the Swiss bank account of Selune Ltd, a company US investigators said is owned by Low.
The banker for the subsidiary, 1MDB Energy Ltd, was Falcon Private Bank Ltd, whose Singapore branch was shut down by regulators this year.
The complex web of transactions cut across international borders as the money passed through accounts controlled by Low and his father.
The transactions were flagged as suspicious by BSI compliance officers, but dismissed by the bank’s senior management who said that “intra-family transfers are not always going to be logical,” according to court documents.
Yak was paid a bonus of S$7.5 million for his dealings with Low that has now been forfeited to the state. Read the rest of this entry »
Former banker convicted in Singapore over 1MDB scandal
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals on Sunday, 13 November 2016
Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
NOVEMBER 11, 2016
Yak Yew Chew ‘motivated by a desire to please’ Malaysian businessman Jho Low
A private banker in Singapore convicted on Friday of forging documents and failing to disclose suspicious transactions was “motivated by a desire to please” Jho Low, the Malaysian businessman linked by US prosecutors to the 1MDB scandal, a court has been told.
Yak Yew Chew, 57, a managing director of BSI, a Swiss private bank, was convicted of four charges relating to forgery and failure to disclose information.
The case, the first criminal conviction linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB affair, has highlighted the risks posed by the rapid growth of the private banking industry in Singapore, and the influence exerted by powerful clients on their wealth managers.
The court was told Mr Low had informed BSI he was helping 1MDB, the Malaysian state investment fund, to invest.
Mr Yak’s lawyer, Lee Teck Leng, said in a plea in mitigation: “Our client was motivated by a desire to please Low as Low was his most important customer at BSI. Low had brought in a lot of business, not just for our client but for BSI as a whole.” Read the rest of this entry »
The four weeks “horribilis” that reinforce world perceptions that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 12 November 2016
Parliament reconvened on Oct. 17 for a 25-day budget meeting, and Malaysia has gone through probably the worst four weeks of the nation’s six decades of history which strengthened world perceptions that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy.
There were no efforts whatsoever to rebut and refute Malaysia’s infamy and ignominy of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”, or to zero in on the international multi-billion ringgit kleptocratic 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering scandal which caused Malaysia to be regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” with (as I said in Parliament) Malaysia ruled by PPP – Pencuri, Perompak dan Penyamun.
These four weeks horribilis started with the ruling by the Speaker of Parliament making the unprecedented ruling anywhere in the world applying the sub judice rule arising from lawsuits in foreign countries to censor and outlaw question, debate and discussion not only about the US Department of Justice (DOJ) largest kleptocratic action for the forfeiture of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, but anything concerning the 1MDB scandal.
Even three former Cabinet Ministers who spoke in Parliament on 1MDB in the 2017 Budget debate are being hauled up by the police for investigation (at the instigation of the Speaker) – contrary to Constitutional guarantees on parliamentary privileges and immunities except in clear-cut cases of violation of the four constitutionally-entrenched sensitive issues under the Sedition Act which do not apply in the present cases.
All over the world, the reverberations from Malaysia being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB global financial scandal continues unabated in the past four weeks, but in the Malaysian Parliament there is the great pretence that Malaysia’s infamy being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB global financial scandal does not exist and had become a “sensitive” subject which could not be raised in Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »
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