Swiss national Jens Fred Sturzenegger has been charged in relation to the Singapore probe of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, becoming the fifth person to be prosecuted here.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) shut down Falcon Private Bank last October and Sturzenegger was arrested by the Commercial Affairs Department on Oct 5 last year.
Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei was found guilty for his role in the most complex, sophisticated and largest money-laundering case involving billions of dollars alleged to have been misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Singapore sentenced former Yeo Jiawei to 30 months in jail after a 12-day trial. He is the third BSI banker convicted in the city state this year.
The prosecutors had charged that Yeo had amassed $16.55 million by taking secret profits from 1MDB-linked transactions during his work for the Singapore unit of BSI.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei earned S$23.9 (US$ 16.7) million , in 15 months as an “independent consultant”, through “illicit means”, including secret deals with people linked to the multi-jurisdictional probe into scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
In court on Tuesday, Yeo revealed that his net worth was around S$2 (US$ 1.39) million when he left BSI bank in Singapore. This was from his basic salary and bonuses earned while he was an employee there.
In his cross examination on Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Kiat Pheng said it was “quite unbelievable” that Yeo could amass so much by acting as a mere “introducer, intermediary, independent consultant or relationship manager”.
Singapore’s central bank is working with major lenders in Japan, the U.S. and Europe to begin testing a blockchain-based transaction system by the end of year.
Ravi Menon, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the initiative is supported by the R3 blockchain research lab and BCS Information Systems.
EFG International has completed the integration of BSI in Singapore, included client relationships and employees, as it referred in a statement today. EFG International announced its intention to acquire Swiss-based BSI before the scandal surrounding 1MDB caught the public’s eye.
A Singapore court jailed Yak Yew Chee on Friday, a former banker who handled Swiss bank BSI’s relationship with state investor 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) for 18 weeks for forgery and failure to disclose suspicious transactions, as Reuters referred.
Yeo Jiawei, former private banker, went on trial in Singapore on Monday in the first prosecution of suspects linked to a massive international money-laundering scandal centred on Malaysian state fund 1MDB.
State prosecutors described the sums involved as “staggering” and said Yeo allegedly pocketed $18.7 million.
Yeo, 33, did so through various means, including “illicit” schemes to swindle his own bank, added prosecutors, who accused him of playing a central role in the “most complex, sophisticated and largest” money-laundering case that the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) has ever come across, as the written statement issued at the trial reported.
The Singapore Bullion Market Association (SBMA) announced the launch of a joint feasibility study between the SBMA, LBMA and ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA). The study will focus on customers’ needs for a LBMA Pre-AM Gold Price at 14:00 Singapore Time (06:00 GMT), Lim Hng Kiang, minister for trade and industry and deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, told an industry conference on Monday.
"We hope to make a reputable gold benchmark mechanism in London available to Asian users," SBMA’s chief executive, Albert Cheng, told Reuters. Cheng said a feasibility study is being carried out, and "if there’s enough interest, the IBA will consider launching it early next year."
This initiative is supported by International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the government agency driving international trade.
