Bank Negara Has Closed 1MDB Probe. Here Are 3 Things You Should Know About It
The central bank said they have imposed a penalty on 1MDB.
By Sadho Ram — 13 Aug 2016, 06:19 AM
Yesterday, 12 August, Bank Negara Governer revealed that their investigations into 1MDB have been completed. He added that all necessary actions have been taken against the troubled fund.
Governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim said this when he was announcing Malaysia's second quarter economic growth performance in Kuala Lumpur during a press conference when a reporter asked him whether Bank Negara would initiate a new investigation into 1MDB in view of the findings by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).
"We have completed all our investigations on 1MDB based on all the information and investigations papers. We have imposed a penalty on the company and taken all necessary actions entrusted to us under the law and we have closed the investigation," he was quoted as saying by The Malay Mail Online.
1. Bank Negara does not have any plans to reopen investigations on 1MDB despite the civil complaint filed by the US DOJ.
He, however, said that Bank Negara "will be guided by international protocols" if the DOJ approaches them for assistance in its probes.
"When it comes to international collaborations, we are dictated by certain protocols and regulations," he said. "We will abide strictly by those protocols when it comes to cooperation with any external investigating bodies."
2. When asked whether BNM will tighten financial regulations, similar to what the Monetary Authority of Singapore did by ordering the shutdown of the BSI Bank for gross misconduct, he said BNM already has a financial intelligence unit to look into all these issues
3. Back in April, Bank Negara fined 1MDB for failure to fully comply with financial regulations. The breaches included 1MDB's repatriation of funds abroad even though Bank Negara had revoked the state investment fund's permission in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Following which, a month later in May, 1MDB said it had fully paid the sum of penalty to Bank Negara. However, the sum that 1MDB paid the bank was not disclosed.
After receiving the compound, Bank Negara announced the conclusion of the probe.