Singapore to Ban Former Goldman Banker in Connection With 1MDB Scandal
December 01 2016 - 10:30PM
Dow Jones News
SINGAPORE—Singapore authorities announced sanctions on Goldman
Sachs Group's former top executive in Southeast Asia on Friday
after the banker allegedly wrote an unauthorized reference letter
for a Malaysian who U.S. authorities believe is at the center of
one of the world's largest-ever financial scandals.
Goldman put the banker, Tim Leissner, its former chairman of
Southeast Asia, on leave at the start of this year after it
discovered he had written the reference letter on behalf of Jho
Low, the young Malaysian financier who U.S. authorities have named
as a key figure in the scandal revolving around Malaysian state
investment fund 1MDB.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, in a statement, said it had
decided to ban Mr. Leissner from working in the city state's
financial markets for 10 years. It said the former Goldman banker
had written the letter to a Luxembourg financial institution
claiming that Goldman had done due diligence on Mr. Low and had not
found any concerns of money laundering. "These statements were
untrue and were made by Mr. Leissner without Goldman Sachs'
knowledge or consent," the statement said.
The U.S. Department of Justice in a lawsuit earlier this year
alleged that more than $3 billion had been siphoned out of the
fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., and gone into real estate,
Hollywood movies and other assets. The suit said Mr. Low had
benefited from some of the stolen money.
The MAS also said it had levied million-dollar fines on the
local branches of Standard Chartered Ltd. and private bank Coutts
& Co Ltd. for their handling of accounts related to the 1MDB
scandal. It fined Standard Chartered S$5.2 million ($3.6 million),
and imposed a fine of S$2.4 million on Coutts.
Attempts to reach Mr. Leissner, who is living in Los Angeles,
were not immediately successful. He has denied wrongdoing. Goldman
Sachs said in a statement Friday that the MAS action against Mr.
Leissner was related to a matter discovered in January 2016 that it
reported to Singapore authorities. The bank added that it is
cooperating with authorities. Attempts to reach Mr. Low, whose
whereabouts is unknown, were unsuccessful.
Standard Chartered said in a statement it regrets that
1MDB-related transactions passed through the bank. It said it had
reported the suspicious transactions, cooperated with authorities
and had taken action to strengthen its controls.
A spokesperson for Coutts could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Write to Jake Maxwell Watts at jake.watts@wsj.com and P.R.
Venkat at venkat.pr@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 01, 2016 22:15 ET (03:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024