Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (May 25): With BSI Bank Ltd ordered to shut down, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak have been asked what they would do now to withdraw US$940 million of the troubled fund’s “units” parked there.

Opposition lawmaker Tony Pua also asked where the assets would be moved to, after the call by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to BSI to close.

This followed the commencement of criminal proceedings against BSI SA Bank by Switzerland’s Office of Attorney-General, for allegedly failing to prevent offences linked to 1MDB.

Pua said 1MDB should liquidate and repatriate the entire sum back to Malaysia to fund its local projects in Bandar Malaysia and Tun Razak Exchange which are in desperate need for financial support.

“The closure of BSI Bank, Singapore however, piled additional pressure on 1MDB to prove its holdings in the Bank.

“1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy has testified to the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in January this year that US$940 million worth of mysterious “units” remained safely parked in BSI Bank, Singapore.

“With the closure of the bank, will these assets evaporate together with the bank?” asked Pua, who is Petaling Jaya Utara MP, in a statement.

He said despite repeated requests by both the Auditor-General and the PAC, 1MDB has adamantly refused to provide bank statements and supporting documents in relation to the above US$940 million of “units” to justify its existence and worth.  

The US$940 million forms part of the US$7 billion worth of cash, assets and transactions, which could not be verified by the Auditor-General.

“Najib and Arul Kanda both fail to explain what will happen to the RM940 million “units” from BSI Bank. If not, they have been caught with their pants down, lying outright to the Parliament and to the Malaysian public once again.  

“Malaysians can hence safely conclude that the RM940 million of “units” never existed and the monies have been lost or stolen by the powers that be,” he said.

Yesterday, MAS issued a notice of intention to BSI to withdraw its status as a merchant bank in Singapore for "serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of the bank’s operations, and gross misconduct by some of the bank’s staff."

MAS also referred to the public prosecutor, six members of BSI's senior management and staff, to evaluate whether they had committed crime.

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