SINGAPORE, May 30 — The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has imposed financial penalties of S$700,000 and S$900,000 (RM2,156,020.48 and RM2,772,026.33) on Credit Suisse and UOB, respectively, as it wraps up its two-year 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) money-laundering probe here.

In a release issued today, MAS also served notice of its intention to issue Prohibition Orders (POs) on three more individuals: Ang Keng Wee Kelvin, a former representative of Maybank Kim Eng Securities, NRA Capital CEO Kevin Scully and former NRA Head of Research Lee Chee Waiy.

Through Ang’s introduction, NRA was appointed to perform the valuation of PetroSaudi Oil Services.

Last week, Ang was convicted of an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act for bribing Lee with S$3,000 to expedite the preparation of the valuation report on the company.

Lee had been the “primary person” in NRA working on the valuation, MAS said.

Apart from accepting the bribe, he was also found to have applied “inappropriate methodology and assumptions” in the valuation. “As CEO of NRA, Scully had failed to ensure that his analyst, Lee, had exercised sufficient care, judgment and objectivity in the valuation of (PetroSaudi),” MAS said.

MAS is seeking six-year POs against Ang and Lee, and a three-year PO against Scully.

Under the PO, individuals will be banned from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act and taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of any capital market services firm in Singapore. Flouting these rules could result in a maximum fine of S$150,000, a jail term of two years, or both.

As earlier announced, MAS said it has served lifetime POs against former Falcon Private Bank Singapore branch manager Jens Fred Sturzenegger, and former BSI employee Yak Yew Chee. Another ex-BSI staff Seah Mei Ying has also been served a 15-year PO. Sturzenegger, Yak and Seah have been convicted of financial crimes. Their POs took effect from Monday.

The latest inspections of Credit Suisse and UOB revealed several breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and control lapses. These include weaknesses in conducting due diligence on customers and inadequate scrutiny of customers’ transactions and activities. MAS did not however detect pervasive control weaknesses within these banks.

MAS has directed the banks to appoint independent parties to assess and confirm that rectification measures have been effectively implemented. It has also instructed the management of Credit Suisse and UOB to take disciplinary measures, where appropriate, against errant staff. The banks are currently taking measures to address the weaknesses identified and strengthen their AML controls.

UOB said in a statement that it accepts MAS’ findings. It added that it has put in place measures to address the areas of concern, including enhancing its training programme to raise risk and control awareness among staff.

“While the MAS found that the control weaknesses were not pervasive, UOB will continue to build upon our anti-money laundering policies, processes and practices to strengthen the Bank’s ability to combat the threats posed by those seeking to abuse the banking system,” the statement said. “We also expect our staff to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards in line with our code of conduct and will not condone behaviour that falls short of this.”

UOB said it will donate the profits associated with the lapses to charity. — TODAY