In early May, the Financial Times of London carried an in-depth feature on the City of London as a global money laundering hub, which included an expose of the Swiss private bank BSI in the UK.
The paper revealed that a former employee of BSI in the UK had warned regulatory watchdogs that BSI bankers were providing services that could facilitate money laundering and tax evasion. The story described the tricks of the trade used to provide a cover for such activities, including the use of shell companies registered in a tax haven “such as the British Virgin Islands, where its ownership can be kept secret”.
From around the time Swiss financial services regulator Finma raised the alarm, BSI in Singapore has been in the crosshairs of investigations. And inevitability the link to 1MDB, BSI Singapore’s largest client, was on the minds of many.
How was 1MDB involved? Let’s look specifically at the case of what happened after 1MDB wound up its controversial US$1.8bn investment in Petrosaudi International Ltd. 1MDB claimed it had somehow made a profit of US$0.4bn. This meant it had about US$2.2bn (RM7-8bn) – though a few doubters harboured scepticism about whether the amount existed in full, given all the controversial transfers that had taken place at Petrosaudi.
What bewildered many observers was that instead of bringing these ‘funds’ back to Malaysia, 1MDB then brazenly(!) used a subsidiary, Brazen Sky Ltd (registered in the British Virgin Islands, of course), to park the ‘US$2.2bn’ in an outfit called Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund Segregated Poftfolio Company. (What a mouthful; let’s just call it Bridge Global).
| Please help to support this blog if you can. Read the commenting guidlelines for this blog. |
(Sarawak Report) Clare Brown: The 1MDB Scandal Is A Global Financial Problem Affecting All Of Us
Rafizi Ramli: 1MDB ini macam main bola!
TIME Asia Editor Zoher Abdoolcarim spoke to Mahathir on June 2 about Najib: When the Prime Minister took office in 2009, a lot of people were saying that he would be liberal. What happened? He [believes that] he can sustain his popularity and remain Prime Minister with money. Because of that, he has to find some source of money. Our belief is that he created this so-called sovereign fund so he can somehow make use of that money in order to ensure that he gets support from party members and from other people. But money politics has long been an… Read more »
I urge Malays not to believe too much those reporting on TV3 Buletin and Utusan.
Too bad most Malays cannot understand other languages and not kept informed of the real truth surrounding the 1MDB scandal.
NAJIB & 1MDB SELAMATKAN MALAYSIA
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in March this year revealed that the total sum entering Najib’s personal bank accounts from multiple sources totalled not just US$681 million but amounted to over US$1 billion (RM4.2 billion). Najib had first denied the WSJ allegation of RM2.6 billion deposited into his private banking accounts but subsequently admitted the RM2.6 billion was deposited into his personal bank accounts, but the money was never for his own benefit. But Najib or the PMO had as yet to comment whether a total of RM4.2 billion had been deposited into his personal accounts. The ABC‘s 45-minute Four Corners’… Read more »
Moody’s said Tuesday it withdrew the rating on 1MDB Energy Ltd.’s $1.75 billion of 5.99 percent 2022 notes “for its own business reasons”.
A senior Malaysian journalist Mustapha Kamil who quit his job at NST said Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government has cracked down on freedom of speech as it tries to limit the fallout from a graft scandal surrounding 1MDB.
U.S. investigators are trying to determine whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. broke the law when it didn’t sound an alarm about a suspicious transaction in Malaysia.
Multiple news sources (for example, here and here) are reporting that the U.S. government is conducting an investigation into whether Goldman Sachs violated the so-called Bank Secrecy Act (real and less-Orwellian name: Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970) by conducting a highly suspicious wire transfer and failing to file a Suspicious Activity Report with the U.S. Treasury. The Bank Secrecy Act, among other things, requires financial institutions to file Suspicious Activity Reports with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) when a customer’s transactions are, well, suspicious. Banks face serious penalties for failing to file Suspicious Activity… Read more »
Hudud, Wayang Kulit To Divert The 1MDB Crime Of The Najib Regime
BN media also used Huckle paedophile incident to deflect the attention away from 1MDB fiasco.
Deepening concerns over 1MDB, the embattled state investment fund at the center of probes from Switzerland to Singapore, has spurred the biggest outflow of foreign funds in eight months. Malaysia’s benchmark stock index has erased most of its gains after climbing to this year’s high in April. The prolonged impact of 1MDB is prompting investors to seek out other markets in Southeast Asia, according to Baring Asset Management. “People are probably getting impatient as they continue to hear noises about 1MDB,” Lim Soo Hai, a Hong Kong-based money manager at Baring Asset, which oversees about $41 billion, said by phone.… Read more »
Wherever one goes in the world, Malaysia is now equated with the notorious and infamous RM55 billion 1MDB scandal – which has been described last week by the international financial news agency, Bloomberg, as one of the “world’s biggest financial scandals”. Everybody knows that the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal is huge, but how huge is it? The RM55 billion 1MDB scandal is so humongous that if divided among 42,837 voters in Sungai Besar, every voter would get RM1.3 million! Najib knows that the 1MDB scandal is his Achilles’ heel, which is why he is abusing and misusing his powers to… Read more »
Looks like Anil is depending on David to update us on 1MDB?
Be alert that a financial crisis is looking, so check your ego or bin chui!
Read this not to be lulled by The Star, NST, RTM or Barang Naik politicians:
http://malaysiansmustknowthetruth.blogspot.my/2016/05/asia-on-verge-of-financial-crisis-warns.html?m=1
To stay clear of the looming financial crisis, postpone house purchase until our economic fundamentals are in order. Which also includes seeing that 1MDB crisis be brought to justice. Home loan is a huge component of most household debts & prudence of spending & commitment to loans from banks should be under everyone’s financial monitoring camera. In this era of super-surreal housing price marketing, common sense should prevail to override any property guru’s song of praise for “now’s the time to invest in property”. It is easier & less painful to default a pawned item than to lose a home… Read more »
Malaysian households’ debt are approaching levels that could force them to deleverage at a time when the economy is in dire need of domestic consumer support, according to economists and financial analysts monitoring the region. In an assessment of the risks of high household debt in Asia by the Financial Times, Malaysia was identified as the economy most vulnerable from its citizen’s borrowings, due in large part to Bank Negara reactive nature. Fueled by lax lending rules and a strong appetite for borrowing among consumers, Malaysia’s household debt to GDP has reached 88% — the highest in the region, almost… Read more »
Local banks are facing more loan default in NPL.
Easy for people to borrow but have no capacity and discipline to pay back. Bankruptcy is on the rise. Base lending rate to go ip soon as US is increasing its interest rate.
The evidence is out that Good Star do belong to Jho Low so it’s weird they are insisting it’s not. Every time they try to hide or deny the obvious/ proven, it just mean they did EVEN MORE crap with the money i.e. more scandals.
In accounting crooked people frequently used the term “Creative Accounting” . In Boleh Land the power that be uses ‘Blatant Accounting’ hence the company named Blazen Sky Ltd.
It’s interesting to note as per Arul Kanan’s interview that 1MDB still has RM4b in Cayman Island !!!??? But where’s moneys when they just can’t even repatriate a little bit from it back as per Bank Negara’s decree ???
Please ask that loose cannon minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan to chip in on it a wee bit ???
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/1mdb-still-has-rm4b-in-cayman-island-arul-kanda-now-says
US financial daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claims that Bank Negara Malaysia wrote a letter confirming that Good Star Limited was owned by tycoon Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
This contradicts the government’s assertions that Good Star Ltd, which has since been dissolved, belonged to former 1MDB joint-venture partner PetroSaudi International.
They are good at creating “artificial twin brothers”.
It is not uncommon as in the corporate world even during the 80s junk bond era of Mike Milken.
The Good Star Limited is a test case whether Malaysia is prepared to be a responsible member of the global community or trying to be a “hermit state” to cut off the country from the international flow of events. The question whether WSJ has committed an offence under the OSA in revealing a Bank Negara Malaysia letter to the PAC Chairman confirming that Good Star Limited was owned by tycoon Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, must not be allowed to overshadow an even greater public interest issue. The issue being that the government had lied to Malaysians… Read more »
Jho Low’s covert link with Good Star is protected under OSA, could never be questioned?