Singapore seizes bank accounts in investigation into Malaysian state fund

Singapore authorities have seized “a large number” of bank accounts in a money laundering investigation linked to the alleged embezzlement by the management of a Malaysian state investment fund, local media reported Tuesday.

The Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said that they were collaborating with the Malaysian authorities, the USA and Switzerland in the investigation that remains open into the alleged irregularities of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“Singapore does not tolerate that its financial system is used as a shelter or conduit for illicit funds,” the two organizations said in a statement, according to Channel News Asia.

The note, which did not provide further details on the number of accounts seized, was issued one week after Swiss authorities requested the Asian country collaborate in the investigation into some $4 million that was diverted to Switzerland by Malaysian state companies.

In another statement issued last night, 1MDB said it has no knowledge about the seizure of any accounts in Singapore but assured the company is willing to cooperate with any investigation.

“As noted previously, 1MDB was not contacted by any foreign legal authority for matters relating to the company,” said 1MDB.

The fund is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who last week was exonerated of any responsibility for the income of some $700 million into private accounts, allegedly diverted from 1MDB.

The prosecutor dismissed the case by attributing the influx of cash to a personal donation from the royal family of Saudi Arabia.

Najib created 1MDB after becoming Malaysian prime minister and as head of the Finance Ministry a position he retains he was president of the advisory board for the 1DMB between 2009 to 2014, during which time the company accumulated a debt of 42 million ringgit (roughly $11 million).

Both the prime minister and 1MDB have denied the veracity of news reports that revealed the scandal and were supposedly based on official documents.

But the scandal has yet to be deflated, with the ongoing release of new media reports on the issue stirring up dissent in the government, which at the end of July remodeled its Executive.