PUTRAJAYA, Oct 13 — The Attorney-General today disputed Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) insistence for 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to be charged for breaching exchange laws, noting that the central bank did not query the firm over instances in which it is now demanding prosecution.

In a special press conference today, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali said that the central bank had thrice granted timely approval in the instances that it now accused 1MDB of providing incomplete or improper disclosure of information.

“1MDB obtained three permissions from Bank Negara Malaysia to make remittances, namely on September 29 2009, September 6 2010 and May 20 2011.

“It is noted that Bank Negara Malaysia did not take more than three days to grant the said permissions on all three occasions,” Apandi said.

He further highlighted that the central also did not seek to reassess its permission granted to 1MDB even when the state-owned firm requested Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad to remit payment to an account different from the one listed in the approval.

Apandi said the central bank allowed the transaction with the caveat that it should not violate banking laws, and made no further query at that time.

“Clearly there was no information or further information requested by Bank Negara Malaysia at that material time and 1MDB rightfully furnished the information required for the purpose of the remittance,” he added.

Apandi also noted that the Exchange Control Malaysia (ECM) forms 09A and 06B do not require the applicants to supply the names of the beneficiary owners, the bank account numbers or even the manner with which the funds were to be channelled.

“Since there is no requirement, the omission on 1MDB officials’ part to disclose is not an offence under the Act,” he said, reading from a statement.

He noted that although the forms do not require such information, BNM could have queried 1MDB.

“As far as 1MDB is concerned, it needs to fill up the relevant form and respond to the queries by BNM.

“If BNM does not request for certain or specific information, how could 1MDB be faulted as it has filled up the form as required and responded to the queries made?” the first-term AG asked.

As such, Apandi said the AGC found that there was no need to review its decision not to take action against 1MDB, despite BNM’s request.

“In this respect and the fact that there is now new evidence made available, we do not see the necessity to review,” he said.

Last week, the AGC revealed that it rejected BNM’s recommendations for action against 1MDB twice, after finding no wrongdoing committed by any of the state-owned firm’s officials.

In a statement, the AGC said BNM first submitted its investigation papers on August 21 and that upon studying the bank’s findings, it found that no further action was necessary.

The papers were subsequently returned to BNM on September 11, and the decision communicated to the bank the same day, it said.

On October 1, however, the AGC said BNM issued a letter of request, seeking a review of the decision.