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Bank accounts seized in Singapore over Malaysia's '1MDB scandal'

Monday, 01 February 2016 5:48 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 February 2016 5:48 PM ]

1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) is a strategic development company, wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, involved in a money scandal (AFP Photo)

A large number of bank accounts have been seized by the Singaporean government over alleged crimes linked to the Malaysian government.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Commercial Affairs Department announced in a joint statement on Monday that since mid-2015 investigations have been underway to find "possible money laundering and other offenses carried out in Singapore" in connection with an investment fund belonging to the Malaysian government.

A sum of four billion dollars is reportedly missing from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, also known as the 1MDB fund, earmarked for investment in economic and social development projects in Malaysia.

The agencies said Singapore is in close cooperation with authorities in Malaysia, Switzerland and the United States to gather information for the investigation.

"In connection with these investigations, we have sought and are continuing to seek information from several financial institutions, are interviewing various individuals, and have seized a large number of bank accounts," they said, adding, “As investigations are still ongoing, we are not able to provide more details at this stage."

An initial investigation confirmed that some money from the state fund was transferred into accounts held in Switzerland.

The Swiss accounts were held by various former Malaysian public officials and both former and current public officials from the United Arab Emirates.

The Swiss office said in a statement on Friday that legal criminal proceedings were opened last August against two former 1MDB officials and unknown individuals on suspicion of bribery of foreign public officials, misconduct in public office, money laundering and criminal mismanagement.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who formed 1MDB in 2009, became embroiled in the scandal after documents were leaked last year suggesting some $700 million deposited into his accounts may have come from entities linked to 1MDB.

This photo taken on June 7, 2015 shows Prime Minister of Malaysia Mohamed Najib Abdul Razak (L) with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (AFP Photo)

Malaysian Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any wrongdoing last Tuesday, saying the money was a private donation from the Saudi royal family.

Apandi said Saturday that his office will cooperate with Swiss authorities in the investigations. 1MDB is mired in a 42-billion-ringgit ($10.1-billion) debt and has been selling its assets to clear it.

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