KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 ― The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has promised to take tough action on banks in the republic if they are found to have broken national banking rules amid an ongoing investigation on two accounts there linked to debt-riddled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Singapore’s Straits Times reported today MAS managing director Ravi Menon as saying that the financial regulator’s main interest is the supervision of the banks that may have been “a party to these flows”.
“Our main concern is [if] they have adhered to the high standards that we expect of them in anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing. Our focus is on whether they've exercised sufficient diligence and prudence with respect to these flows,” Ravi was quoted saying.
The order to freeze the Singapore bank accounts was given on suspicion of money-laundering after Malaysia suspended six bank accounts here earlier this month, following the Wall Street Journal’s July 3 report that claimed US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from companies linked to the state-owned fund was moved to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account in Malaysia.
The Straits Times reported today that MAS is checking if the banks in Singapore have followed rules on the verification of the sources of funds, customer identification, reporting of any suspicious transactions and accounts monitoring.
“If they've been found wanting, we will take quiet actions against them and these are not small actions. If the breach is a serious one, the action taken will be a serious one,” Ravi was quoted saying.
The actions that MAS can take reportedly include issuing warnings and reprimands, as well as imposing restrictions on business operations and financial penalties.
Two men were arrested in Malaysia this week in connection to the investigation on the troubled 1MDB ― the managing director of Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, the company responsible for the state-owned fund’s corporate social responsibility programmes, and a director of a construction company.
Malaysian immigration officials stopped yesterday DAP MP Tony Pua, who has been critical of 1MDB, from boarding a flight to Indonesia, purportedly on instructions from their superiors.
Others flagged by the department include PKR MP Rafizi Ramli, who has also been questioning 1MDB, Datuk Tong Kooi Ong, the owner of The Edge Media Group that has been publishing news reports on the debt-laden fund, and Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, the managing director of former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd and 1MDB’s former chief investment officer.
