TEMPO.CO, Singapore-Singapore widened a crackdown on alleged money laundering in a probe tied to scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1MDB, seizing assets and announcing it will take action against some of the biggest banks based in the city-state.
Singapore authorities said in a statement on Thursday that they had seized S$240 million ($177 million) of assets in an investigation of 1MDB-related fund flows for possible money laundering.
They also said they found problems at three major banks, top local lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the world's largest private bank UBS AG, and UK-based bank Standard Chartered.
"The preliminary findings are that there were instances of control failings in all three banks and, in some cases, weaknesses in the processes for accepting clients and monitoring transactions. There was also undue delay in detecting and reporting suspicious transactions," the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) aid in a statement.
An onsite inspection of another Swiss bank, Falcon PBS, owned by one of the world's leading sovereign wealth funds - Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), in April 2016 found "substantial breaches" of anti-money laundering regulations, MAS said.
It was the first time 1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Bhd, has been mentioned by the Singapore authorities in official statements about the money laundering investigation. In May, they said they were closing down the operations of Swiss private bank BSI AG in Singapore for serious breaches of anti-money laundering rules, the first such action in 32 years. They didn't identify 1MDB in that announcement, though Swiss authorities did in a related move against BSI.
Thursday's joint statement by MAS, the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) came the day after U.S. prosecutors filed civil lawsuits to seize more than $1 billion in assets they said were tied to money stolen from the Malaysian state development fund.
Of the asset seizure announced on Thursday, about half belonged to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, and his immediate family, according to the statement.
Authorities did not detail the potential action they might take against the banks. Under Singapore law, the banks could face fines or other penalties, and individuals directly involved could face prosecution.
"The criminal investigations by CAD are targeted at individuals suspected of committing offences in Singapore related to these flows, while MAS has been examining the financial institutions through which the funds flowed for possible regulatory breaches and control lapses," the statement said.
REUTERS
