Illustrative photo (Source: Reuters)Singapore (VNA) – Singapore's central bank revoked the licence of Swiss bank BSI on May 24, as the bank has been linked to a money laundering scandal at Malaysia's state fund 1MDB.
This is the first time in 32 years such revocation targeting a commercial bank has taken place in the Southeast Asian country.
The central bank has also ordered the closure of BSI’s local branch, while the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said it has launched an investigation into BSI SA, the parent company of BSI.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has accused the bank of serious violations of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of operations and gross misconduct by some staff.
MAS has called for prosecutors to investigate six BSI senior executives for possible criminal offences and fined the bank 9.6 million USD for breaches of Singapore's anti-money-laundering law. Two Singaporean executives of the bank have also been prosecuted.
Founded in 2009, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is now at the centre of multiple investigations around the world into allegations that billions were looted from it.
Last year, the US and Switzerland began investigating the fund, as it ran up more than 11 billion USD in debt in a series of much-questioned investments.-VNA
