Ganesh Sahathevan

by Ganesh Sahathevan The Singaporean Government's stony faced silence on the matter of Falcon Bank 's branch in Singapore has been raised on a related blog , where the question was raised whether BSI like prosecutions and penalties are being held back in the name of realpolitik. Among the transactions of interest are those involving Malaysia's PM Najib, and hundreds of millions of dollars which are believed to be still held at Falcon Bank. While there is reason to believe those funds have been frozen , the fact remains that Falcon, unlike BSI, remains in business in Singapore and to solicit funds for investment. Heading the investment effort is Falcon's Chief Investment Officer, David Pinkerton, whose past is such that he is not likely to have been allowed to work in the financial sector in Singapore. Speaking to The National of the UAE in May this year Pinkerton ,and that paper, gave the impression of a man who fought charges of corruption that were eventually unsub...

by Ganesh Sahathevan In the reporting this far on 1 MDB, PetroSaudi and Jho Low, this detail, extracted from AmBank's 2011 Annual Report has been neglected : Principal adviser to Javace Sdn Bhd (“Offeror”) for the unconditional take-over offer of UBG Berhad (“UBG”), Perdana Berhad (“PPB”) and Loh & Loh Corporation Berhad (“LLCB”) to acquire all the remaining ordinary shares of UBG, PPB and LLCB not already owned by the Offeror and persons acting in concert with it for a cash consideration of RM2.50 per UBG share, RM4.85 per PPB share and RM4.85 per LLCB share respectively. The term"principal adviser" has legal significance and is an invention of Malaysia's corporate regulator, the Securities Commissio (SC). . In essence, capital market transactions in Malaysia must be approved by the SC and the SC will only consider applications that are submitted by principal advisers it has approved. The SC takes a highly interventionist role , often seeing itself as a market...

by Ganesh Sahathevan This is a continuation to yesterday's Good Star story , and earlier stories on ANZ and AMBank . In a special investigative report  Reuters revealed :  For the past year, the Malaysian government has said a company called Good Star Ltd, which received $1.03 billion from the scandal-hit 1MDB investment fund, was owned by the fund's joint venture partner, PetroSaudi International Ltd. Now an official with knowledge of a regulatory investigation has confirmed what Malaysia's central bank has recently asserted: Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho was the sole owner of Good Star during its five years as a company. "What I can say for sure is that Jho Low is the exclusive beneficial owner of Good Star," the official said. In response t he London-based law firm of Carter-Ruck, speaking on behalf of PetroSaudi, said in an emailed statemen t:  "Our clients categorically deny any wrongdoing in relation to the Joint Venture with 1MDB, and they have mad...

by Ganesh Sahathevan In a special investigative report Reuters revealed : For the past year, the Malaysian government has said a company called Good Star Ltd, which received $1.03 billion from the scandal-hit 1MDB investment fund, was owned by the fund's joint venture partner, PetroSaudi International Ltd. Now an official with knowledge of a regulatory investigation has confirmed what Malaysia's central bank has recently asserted: Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho was the sole owner of Good Star during its five years as a company. "What I can say for sure is that Jho Low is the exclusive beneficial owner of Good Star," the official said. In response t he London-based law firm of Carter-Ruck, speaking on behalf of PetroSaudi, said in an emailed statemen t: "Our clients categorically deny any wrongdoing in relation to the Joint Venture with 1MDB, and they have made clear that all funds invested by 1MDB in the Joint Venture were returned, with profits.": "...