Singapore | FT: Investigators freeze accounts linked to 1MDB probe

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak

Singapore has frozen two bank accounts in connection with investigations into 1MDB, Malaysia’s troubled state fund, the Financial Times reported yesterday.
According to an article by Jennifer Hughes in Hong Kong, the actions are the first time accounts outside Malaysia have been caught up in the probe, which has embroiled Najib Razak, the Southeast Asian country’s prime minister, in his biggest scandal since coming to power in 2009.
Investigators are investigating claims of large-scale misappropriation at the fund, which was set up under the finance ministry in 2009 to invest in energy and property projects.
A Singapore police spokesman confirmed to the FT that two accounts were frozen on July 15 but declined to give any further details.
“Singapore will continue to provide our full assistance and share information with the relevant authorities in Malaysia,” he told the UK-based newspaper. “In this connection, MAS [the Monetary Authority of Singapore] has been in close contact with the relevant financial institutions.”
The MAS had said previously that it was sharing information with Malaysian investigators. This week its managing director said it was checking whether banks had followed rules on identifying customers and reporting suspicious transactions.
Long-running questions over how 1MDB ran up more than USD11bn in debt took on extra impetus earlier this month when investigators swooped on the fund’s headquarters.
Mr Najib was also linked to alleged payments worth almost $700m from the fund in claims first made public by the Wall Street Journal and the Sarawak Report.
Earlier this month the specially created task force looking into the fund said it had frozen six bank accounts in Malaysia.
The prime minister has said he did not take any money for personal gain. He has denounced the allegations as outrageous and unsubstantiated.
1MDB said it had provided documents and materials to help the investigations.
Malaysian police subsequently launched their own investigation into the affair, focusing on how the stories came to be written and whether they breached the country’s computer crimes laws.
The furor surrounding 1MDB has threatened the grip on power enjoyed by the ruling United Malays National Organisation since independence in 1957.
However, Mr Najib has been publicly supported by many ruling party officials even as he has come under increasing pressure from opposition politicians and others to stand aside while the investigation takes place.