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Malaysia has been rocked for more than a year by a financial scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak, a state investment firm, and an alleged frenzy of embezzlement. Authorities in a half-dozen countries have launched investigations into suspicions that several billion dollars was looted from complicated financial transactions involving 1MDB and parked around the world. Over the past year, Najib has purged 1MDB critics from his cabinet, curbed domestic investigations, and moved to prevent further discussion of the scandal. Najib has dramatically strengthened his control of the country. A state-level election and two parliamentary by-elections were won handily by Najib's ruling coalition, further bolstering his position.

#Malaysia’s state investment company 1MDB paid the coupon on its Islamic debt after missing two payments on other securities earlier. The company undertook the scheduled payment of 143.8 million ringgit ($34.9 million) on its 5 billion ringgit 5.75% notes due 2039. President Arul Kanda said 1MDB has ample liquidity to make interest payments and service its current debt obligations. 1MDB’s separate $1.75 billion of 5.99% notes due 2022, which are guaranteed by IPIC, rose 0.1 cent to 103.7.

Authorities in #Switzerland and #Singapore took action against Swiss private bank BSI for failing to prevent money laundering and bribery related to its dealings with Malaysian development fund 1MDB. Switzerland's Attorney General opened criminal proceedings against the bank. The country's Financial Market Supervisory Authority ordered BSI to pay back 95 mn Swiss franks Swiss Bank Is Charged Over ($96 mn). Singapore’s central bank revoked BSI’s banking license there and fined it 13.3 mn Singapore dollars ($9.7 mn). The cross-border investigation related to 1MDB involves at least seven countries.

The fates of 1MDB bonds are diverging this month: those guaranteed by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund have rallied, while notes with support from Malaysia’s own government have dropped. 1MDB's 4.4% 2023 notes, backed by the government, slumped 6.4% in May, set for the worst slide in 16 months. The fund’s 5.99% 2022 bonds, backed by Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment gained 1.9%. The contrast reflects growing investor concern about the Malaysian government backing as Najib grapples with an economy forecast to expand at the slowest pace in seven years amid a collapse in oil prices.

Malaysian government investment fund 1Malaysia Development defaulted on a series of bonds on Tuesday, weighing on the country’s stock and currency markets and raising concerns that the government may eventually have to spend billions to bail out the fund. The cross default triggered by non-payment, the continuing stand-off with IPIC and a widening investigation across at least six countries into possible corruption and money-laundering connected to the fund are starting to affect the markets.

1MDB has confirmed the default in IPIC guaranteed bonds but assured that there are no cross defaults on the bonds guaranteed by the Malaysian government. 1MDB explained the limited default from the non-payment of USD50.3 million interest on the Langat Notes is due to non-payment by International Petroleum Investment Company and reassured investors of the company's intention to meet its financial obligations.

The Singaporean ex-BSI private banker Yeo Jiawei has been charged with receiving benefits from criminal conduct. He was charged on April 16 for receiving S$200,000 in his Bank of China account in 2013. While the charge sheet made no mention of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that Mr Yeo was charged with money laundering following investigations into 1MDB's money flows.

1MDB issued a statement Monday saying Abu Dhabi state-run fund International Petroleum Investment Corp. has failed to pay interest on $1.7 billion on the Malaysian fund's 2022 bonds. The Malaysian government was cautioned about risks associated with the debt-ridden fund in 2014. The state investment fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak, has been burdened with debt of over $12 million over the years and has been accused of mismanagement while facing corruption allegations. Apart from Malaysia, the 1MDB investigation is also underway in the United States, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.

Western media should apologise for misleading the Malaysian public after a US$681 million deposit was found to be a “genuine donation”, Mr Najib’s press secretary said on Friday, April 15. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubier had earlier confirmed that the millions found in PM Najib’s bank account was a donation originating from Saudi Arabia. In a statement, Tengku Sariffuddin accused former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of carrying out a smear campaign against Mr Najib which is being motivated by "personal interest". Najib has been facing allegations of graft after reports claimed that the funds found in his personal bank account originated from troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

While 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is seeing a positive balance sheet with total assets exceeding total debts by RM3 billion, it cannot be denied that revaluation of its land assets, which were acquired relatively cheaply, is what saved it from slipping into a deficit. As at last January, 1MDB had RM53 billion in assets compared with RM50 billion in debts. While details of 1MDB's latest assets and debts are not available, past records do show that its cheap buys in the land division with the federal government especially have worked to help bolster its balance sheet by at least RM6.36 billion.

Today, the country's business fraternity received news about the resignation of 1Malaysia Development Berhad's board of directors following the release of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the national strategic investment company. The key people behind 1MDB are Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, Chairman, and Arul Kanda President and Group Executive Director, among others. Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin is the Chief Executive of Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera since August 1982 and the Group Managing Director and Deputy Chairman of Boustead Holdings Berhad. Arul Kanda joins 1MDB from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank where he was Executive Vice-President and Head of Investment Banking.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak spent about $15 million on luxury goods from his personal bank accounts. On Christmas Eve 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stepped onto Hawaii’s 18-hole Kaneohe Klipper course for a round of golf diplomacy with U.S. President Barack Obama. Off the fairways, another side of Mr. Najib’s time in office was on display. Two days earlier, the prime minister’s credit card was charged $130,625 to Chanel in Honolulu. The credit card was paid from one of several private bank accounts owned by Mr. Najib that global investigators believe received hundreds of millions of dollars diverted from the indebted state-run fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

So much money was pouring so rapidly into the Malaysian Prime Minister's personal bank accounts that it rang internal money-laundering alarms inside AmBank. Hundreds of millions of dollars were being wired into Najib Razak's accounts from the Saudi Arabian Government, a mysterious Saudi prince and two shadowy British Virgin Island companies, while the head of a Malaysian state-owned company topped up the Prime Minister's credit card accounts with millions of Malaysian ringgit in cash. Inside the bank, the Malaysian Prime Minister's account was held under the codename "Mr X". The startling new banking records have been obtained as part of a Four Corners program that aired last night, and which resulted in the arrest of two members of its team.

Falcon Private Bank Ltd. on Wednesday sought to distance itself from a controversy involving a Malaysian state fund caught up in allegations of political corruption, saying the transactions it carried out were based on purely commercial terms. Several Swiss banks, including Falcon, have come under scrutiny for transactions involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd. fund, or 1MDB. Among the transactions that are being investigated by authorities in Switzerland and Malaysia is the transfer of $681 million to the private account of Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister.

Authorities in Singapore say they have seized a "large number" of bank accounts that various media have linked to a Malaysian government-run fund that stirred controversy around Prime Minister Najib Razak. While Singaporean authorities didn't confirm the link, the move comes days after Switzerland said it would submit evidence of illegal transactions to Malaysian authorities, asking them to help pursue the investigation. The developments come just before Najib and other Southeast Asian leaders hold a special summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in California this month. Obama is strengthening ties with the region to help counter China's growing assertiveness in the South China Sea and to tap the region's large and fast-growing economies.

Singapore has seized a “large number” of bank accounts over possible money laundering offences linked to an international investigation into the Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB, authorities in the city-state said on Monday. In an illustration of the mounting pressure from global regulators on the troubled fund, Singapore confirmed that it was “cooperating closely” with relevant authorities in Switzerland and the US. The Swiss attorney general announced on Friday that there were “serious indications” that $4bn had been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies and that a portion of the funds was transferred to accounts held in Switzerland.

The Swiss attorney general’s announcement that $4 billion may have been misappropriated from Malaysian state-owned companies opened a new front in the troubles facing 1Malaysia Development Bhd. Switzerland’s top prosecutor on Friday named a number of firms in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi in relation to the matter, but gave no details of their roles, if any. The investigation is one of a series of global probes into 1MDB. A Malaysian government investigation last year found that almost $700 million entered Mr. Najib’s alleged bank accounts via agencies, companies and banks linked to 1MDB ahead of a close election in 2013.

Malaysia's government through Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi issued a startling statement saying the Swiss attorney- general should not have made public his request for Malaysia's help into 1MDB probe. More specifically, it was related to the US$4 billion (RM16.6 billion) suspected misappropriations by 1MDB and possible violations of Swiss law. The government must be very nervous since Switzerland is no longer the safe secret haven for ill-gotten funds as its banking secrecy law is no longer what it used to be. Since the Swiss AG's report mentioned possible involvement of former Malaysian government officials, Putrajaya is getting plenty of sleepless nights.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), in continuing to pursue the story on the 1MDB controversy, has reported that there’s unprecedented attention on a number of Swiss banks and Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank AG, a small wealth manager snapped up by an Abu Dhabi investor during the financial crisis. The Swiss authorities, according to WSJ, are probing suspected money laundering and possible corruption of “foreign officials”. The investigations have landed Falcon in the middle of the controversy around 1MDB. Falcon, which so far hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing, said the bank was legally barred from answering questions about its clients.