Switzerland’s financial regulating body is now quizzing a few of the country’s banks on whether they had had any business dealings with Malaysian sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
A spokesperson for Swiss regulator FINMA confirmed the matter to Reuters‘ Joshua Franklin, saying, “We are clarifying whether and to what extent banks are involved and how the terms of Swiss regulatory law were implemented.”
On July 2, The Wall Street Journal reported that during its investigation into alleged wrongdoing within 1MDB, it found that some USD700 million (RM2.6 billion) was transferred from an account held in Swiss-based Falcon Private Bank, via its branch in Singapore, to two personal bank accounts belonging to Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Falcon has said previously it was in contact with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and would be fully transparent with the authorities.
Earlier this year, MAS also said it was in touch with Malaysian regulators after Malaysia’s government said 1MDB had redeemed $1.1 billion from the Cayman Islands and parked it in the Singapore unit of Swiss private bank BSI.
FINMA declined to comment on the details of its probe, or on any individual names it was looking into.
