This was more so in light of allegations made against Ambank and two of its officials by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Sept 6 pertaining to facilitating and abetting money-laundering when billions of ringgit was transferred into the bank accounts of Prime Minister Najib Razak.
“In Singapore, former private banker Yak Yew Chee, who dealt with Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho (better known as Jho Low) and 1MDB, has been jailed 18 weeks and fined S$24,000 for forging reference letters vouching for the Low family and for failing to report suspicious transactions involving tens of millions of dollars coursing through BSI Bank in Singapore.
“Yak is also to surrender S$7.5 million to the Singapore government ‘to demonstrate his genuine contrition’,” the DAP National Publicity Secretary said.
Aside from Yak, Pua said another former private banker with the Swiss BSI Bank, Yeo Jiawei is facing a trial over four charges for perverting the course of justice and another seven counts for money laundering, cheating and forgery over the same Jho Low and 1MDB-related scandal.
“I had on Oct 31 asked the finance minister to state the actions taken by Bank Negara over the conduct of Ambank bankers, Joanne Yu and Cheah Tek Kuang for covering up money laundering transactions relating to the 1MDB.
“In his written reply, Najib Razak appeared to confirm the above allegations when he said: ‘Bank Negara has undertaken investigations on financial institutions relating to 1MDB under the Financial Services Act 2013, Islamic Financial Services Act 2013, and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2001. Based on the investigation results, enforcement actions have been duly executed by Bank Negara with the power provided to it under the law.’
“However, we were never informed of what actions have been taken against Ambank or the bank officials who have facilitated these illicit transactions.
“In fact, as far as we are aware, both Yu and Cheah are still free,” Pua said, adding that the latter remains an advisor to the Chairman’s office at AmBank, besides being the Chairman of Berjaya Sports Toto and an Independent Director at IOI Group.
“So, if Bank Negara had indeed taken action against him for abetting money laundering offences, can he still be Chairman and Director of publicly-listed companies?”
According to Pua, the WSJ, in its report, had also alleged that private conversations between senior Ambank officials and Jho Low showed that the latter was carrying out the transactions on behalf of the Prime Minister.
“The Prime Minister had given Low access to his accounts, according to investigative documents sighted by WSJ. His primary contact at AmBank was Yu, the banker he had warned via BlackBerry to communicate discreetly. Cheah, a senior AmBank executive and adviser to the bank’s chairman, handled the account personally, the BlackBerry messages indicate,” the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said.
According to Pua, these and other communications listed by WSJ had clearly indicated a conspiracy by the above parties to at best, hide the transactions from scrutiny, and at worst, blatant masking of the illicit transactions as legitimate ones.
“Bank Negara Governor Muhammad Ibrahim’s silence and reticence in tackling the above money laundering scandal will only serve to enhance Malaysia’s reputation as a global kleptocracy,” Pua said.
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