Singapore's
financial regulator said Friday it has fined two British banks and barred a
former Goldman Sachs banker in a widening crackdown on money laundering linked
to Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
Standard Chartered
Bank was slapped with a Sg$5.2 million ($3.65 million) penalty while Coutts
bank was fined Sg$2.4 million for breaching anti-money laundering regulations
in 1MDB-linked transactions, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in
a statement.
The fines came after
MAS, also the city-state's central bank, shut down the local branches of Swiss
lenders BSI and Falcon Private Bank earlier this year for their role in
facilitating illicit cross-border fund transfers involving 1MDB.
The scandal has
embroiled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who had set up 1MDB. Najib has
consistently denied any wrongdoing.
An inspection of
Standard Chartered Bank revealed "significant lapses" in due
diligence measures, the MAS said, adding that some staff were unaware of money
laundering risks.
MAS said while the
breaches were "serious", its investigation "did not find pervasive
control weakness or wilful misconduct" at the lender.
British bank Coutts,
which in 2015 was sold to Union Bancaire Privee, was sanctioned for a lack of
due diligence on customers deemed "politically exposed persons", a
term for people with close government connections.
Yak Yew Chee, a
former Coutts private banker who had joined BSI, was last month jailed in
Singapore on fraud charges related to the multi-billion dollar scandal.
Yak was also a
private banker for Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, a close family friend of
Najib who had helped the Malaysian leader set up 1MDB. Low has also denied any
wrongdoing.
MAS also said it
would ban former Goldman Sachs director Tim Leissner from working in the
Singapore finance industry for 10 years.
Leissner, who
oversaw the 1MDB account, had issued an unauthorised reference letter saying
that due diligence had been carried out on Low and his family, and that no
money laundering concerns had been detected.
MAS said "these
statements were untrue and were made by Mr Leissner without Goldman Sachs'
knowledge or consent".
Leissner resigned
from the bank in February.
MAS said it would
continue to work with other regulators to examine Goldman Sachs' role in 1MDB
bond transactions.
"MAS has taken
tough regulatory actions against various financial institutions this year for
AML (anti-money laundering) control lapses," said MAS managing director
Ravi Menon.
"These actions
send a strong signal that we will not tolerate the abuse of Singapore’s
financial system for illicit purposes."
Singapore,a regional
financial hub, last year launched a probe into alleged unlawful fund flows
linked to 1MDB.
Switzerland and the
United States are also conducting their own investigations into 1MDB.
AFP
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