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Is 1MDB’s US$1.1 billion still in Singapore bank, DAP asks Mr Najib

KUALA LUMPUR — Mr Najib Razak must confirm whether 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) US$1.1 billion (S$1.48 billion) still exists in BSI Bank in Singapore, a Democratic Action Party (DAP) MP said today (April 23), after it was revealed that the troubled state firm gave false statements pertaining to its accounts there.

Some US$1 billion in cash is said to be kept in BSI Bank's Singapore branch, but a recent expose has cast doubt over the existence of the money. Photo: Reuters

Some US$1 billion in cash is said to be kept in BSI Bank's Singapore branch, but a recent expose has cast doubt over the existence of the money. Photo: Reuters

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KUALA LUMPUR — Mr Najib Razak must confirm whether 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) US$1.1 billion (S$1.48 billion) still exists in BSI Bank in Singapore, a Democratic Action Party (DAP) MP said today (April 23), after it was revealed that the troubled state firm gave false statements pertaining to its accounts there.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP, Mr Tony Pua said Mr Najib, who is finance minister, and auditing firm Deloitte Malaysia, must also state if they were aware that 1MDB directors had given false statements regarding its financial position in Singapore.

“Based on this latest expose, I now have doubts on the minister of finance’s reply to me in Parliament, which claimed that the US$1.1 billion redeemed in January 2015 from the Cayman Islands investment fund has been deposited as ‘cash’ in BSI Bank in Singapore,” said Mr Pua in a statement.

“Najib, as both the finance and prime minister, must confirm if the reply given in Parliament on 10 March is indeed true – that the US$1.1 billion are held in ‘cash’ in BSI Bank in Singapore.”

Mr Pua was referring to whistleblower site Sarawak Report’s expose yesterday that BSI Bank had dismissed documents supplied by 1MDB Chief Executive Officer Arul Kanda Kandasamy relating to the accounts for its subsidiary, Brazen Sky, in Singapore.

Brazen Sky supposedly has cash and/or assets held in BSI Bank Singapore.

The Swiss private bank told the Singapore authorities that the documents did not originate from them and did not represent a true account of the assets of the 1MDB subsidiary, said Sarawak Report.

The site, which had been revealing information about 1MDB, said the information about the bank statements was reported back to Malaysia on March 13, two days after Mr Najib confirmed that the remaining US$1.1b had been “redeemed” from Brazen Sky’s alleged offshore fund in the Cayman Islands, and was now being “kept in US currency” at BSI Bank in Singapore.

Sarawak Report said insider information obtained in Singapore corroborated that there was no actual cash in the relevant Brazen Sky account.

Citing a source, it said the account merely contained “paper assets” and the “true value of which cannot be determined”.

“Is our minister of finance aware that there are falsified bank statements distributed by 1MDB directors who gave the wrong financial position of the outrageously indebted 1MDB?” asked Mr Pua.

“Were the independent auditors, Deloitte Malaysia who signed off the March 2014 financial report on 5 November 2014, also duped by the fraudulent statement?”

Mr Pua said Mr Najib must assure Malaysians on the matter, as they could not discount the possibility that the money had vanished from 1MDB altogether. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER

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