No fresh probes into 1MDB, says Bank Negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara will not reopen investigations into 1MDB in the wake of BSI Bank being closed down by the Singaporean authorities, says Bank Negara Governor Muhammad Ibrahim.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 20th Malaysian Banking Summit, Muhammad said as far as Bank Negara was concerned, based on its jurisdiction, its investigations into 1MDB were complete, following 1MDB’s payment of a compound to Bank Negara.

It had been previously reported that 1MDB had been given until May 30 to pay Bank Negara’s compound for failing to repatriate monies remitted abroad. The amount of the compound has not been disclosed.

“Regulatory authorities will carry out their investigations based on the rules and regulations under their jurisdiction.
“There are other laws administered by other authorities, and Bank Negara will give our cooperation on this matter.”

Earlier this week, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the closure of BSI Bank in the country due to repeated violations of money-laundering regulations and other misconduct.

MAS did not explicitly name Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd in its statement.

However, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority said in Zurich that Swiss-based BSI AG had committed serious breaches of money laundering regulations through business relationships and transactions linked to the corruption scandals surrounding 1MDB.

Meanwhile, AmBank chairman Azman Hashim said the RM53.7 million fine on the group last year for compliance breaches was an “expensive lesson.”

The Australian reported last November, that AmBank paid a RM53.7 million fine after Bank Negara found it had breached anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism finance obligations in relation to “politically exposed persons”.

The report said that the breaches were linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Azman noted that even some of the biggest international banks had been fined billions in the past due to non-compliance with regulations.
He said regulations were getting tougher, while money launders were also getting smarter, hence there was a need to keep upgrading systems and training people to ensure compliance.

Azman said the problem was down to the human factor and there was no guarantee that there would be no further breaches, noting that there were some 12,000 employees in the group.

“We will try our best not to breach regulations as penalties are getting more expensive.”