Seychelles sixth country to join 1MDB investigations
The Seychelles is joining the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates in investigations into Malaysia’s troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state’s Financial Intelligence Unit on the Indian Ocean archipelago said, according to Reuters.
Transactions involving 1MDB and its financial transactions are at the center of corruption and money laundering investigations in the country which – together with other offshore jurisdictions – has increasingly come under the spotlight as being a destination for money laundering and a tax haven.
But Seychelles authorities have repeatedly said they work to ensure the archipelago is “not a jurisdiction where money laundering or other illegal activities are allowed to go undetected.”
“The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been assisting in an international investigation into allegations surrounding the strategic Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB),” the FIU said in a statement.
“Detailed information relating to offshore entities registered in Seychelles and other matters were passed to the competent authorities of investigating states,” it added. It is the first public acknowledgement that the Seychelles has joined the widening investigation into 1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The FIU did not name any entities involved in the investigation. The nation’s Financial Services Authority said a search of companies registered in Seychelles would not provide information regarding shareholders or company directors.
A Malaysian parliamentary investigation found that $4.2 billion of 1MDB’s money is unaccounted for or went to overseas bank accounts whose owners could not be ascertained. It said about $700 million was sent without board approval to an account with private banker RBS Coutts in Geneva under the name of Good Star Ltd. The report said could not determine who owned the Good Star account. RBS Coutts has declined to comment.
The Seychelles is joining the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates in investigations into Malaysia's troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state's Financial Intelligence Unit on the Indian Ocean archipelago said, according to Reuters. Transactions involving 1MDB and its financial transactions are at the center of corruption and money laundering investigations in the country which - together with other offshore jurisdictions - has increasingly come under the spotlight as being a destination for money laundering and a tax haven. But Seychelles authorities have repeatedly said they work to ensure the archipelago is "not a jurisdiction...
The Seychelles is joining the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg and the United Arab Emirates in investigations into Malaysia’s troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the state’s Financial Intelligence Unit on the Indian Ocean archipelago said, according to Reuters.
Transactions involving 1MDB and its financial transactions are at the center of corruption and money laundering investigations in the country which – together with other offshore jurisdictions – has increasingly come under the spotlight as being a destination for money laundering and a tax haven.
But Seychelles authorities have repeatedly said they work to ensure the archipelago is “not a jurisdiction where money laundering or other illegal activities are allowed to go undetected.”
“The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has been assisting in an international investigation into allegations surrounding the strategic Malaysian fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB),” the FIU said in a statement.
“Detailed information relating to offshore entities registered in Seychelles and other matters were passed to the competent authorities of investigating states,” it added. It is the first public acknowledgement that the Seychelles has joined the widening investigation into 1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The FIU did not name any entities involved in the investigation. The nation’s Financial Services Authority said a search of companies registered in Seychelles would not provide information regarding shareholders or company directors.
A Malaysian parliamentary investigation found that $4.2 billion of 1MDB’s money is unaccounted for or went to overseas bank accounts whose owners could not be ascertained. It said about $700 million was sent without board approval to an account with private banker RBS Coutts in Geneva under the name of Good Star Ltd. The report said could not determine who owned the Good Star account. RBS Coutts has declined to comment.
