Ganesh Sahathevan

by Ganesh Sahathevan This issue has not been reported : Exctarct from the AMBnk Group Annual Report 2014 AmBank (M) Berhad and AmIslamic Bank Berhad .  Non-Compliance to Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act and Standard Guidelines on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism, as the banks did not adequately capture information on the person conducting cash transactions exceeding RM50,000. Total Compound amount: RM400,000 issued by Bank Negara Malaysia All matters highlighted above have since been satisfactorily addressed. Taken together with this matter which was reported, one can see a pattern of non-complaince  esday, 24 November 2015 AmBank Group fined RM53.7mil by Bank Negara PETALING JAYA: AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank Group) has been slapped with a RM53.7mil fine by Bank Negara. According to a filing by the sixth-largest lender in Malaysia, the penalty has come about as a result of a breach of certain regulations under Sect 234 of the Financi...

AMMB Holdings group managing director Ashok Ramamurthy (Left) and chief financial officer Mandy Simpson (Right) - LOW LAY PHON/THE STAR (filepic ) by Ganesh Sahathevan The Malaysian newspaper reports and official statement from the scandal ridden 1 MDB summarize the facts, well documented and available in the public domain, about a RM 2 billion loan ANZ/AMMB provided 1 MDB's wholly-owned subsidiary Bandar Malaysia;  but which was not used for the declared purpose.It was instead siphoned out of that company into various off-shore accounts.  That any Malaysian bank, let alone AMMB which is effectively under ANZ's management, would not be aware of how such a large loan was utilized is inconceivable .  The loan was extended when ANZ's Ashok Ramamurthy was CEO (on secondment ) at ANZ/AMMB. Ramamurthy returned to ANZ's HQ under a cloud, even as AMMB insisted that his return had nothing to do with 1 MDB. That bald denial means nothing given the avalanche of contradictory st...

by Ganesh Sahathevan The fact that Australia's AML/CTF legislation is intended and has extra-territorial effect adds to the reasons why Australian regulators cannot pretend that the 1 MDB scandal does not concern them,even if regulators in the US,, UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong  and to some extend Singapore are all actively investigating the matter: Anti‑Money Laundering and Counter‑Terrorism Financing Act 2006 No. 169, 2006 Extra‑territorial application             26. (1)  Unless the contrary intention appears, this Act extends to acts, omissions, matters and things outside Australia. To be read with this earlier post: ANZ chairman David Gonski and board linked yet again to 1 MDB scandal: Sarawak Report names Mandy Simpson & ANZ among bankers implicated in scandal   8 MAR 2016 14 Another Singapore Banking Head Rolls - Again Connected to 1MDB! 8 MAR 2016 The high flying Swiss Asia boss of BSI Bank Singapore  announced  this...

8 MAR 2016 14 Another Singapore Banking Head Rolls - Again Connected to 1MDB! 8 MAR 2016 The high flying Swiss Asia boss of BSI Bank Singapore  announced  this morning that he had decided the time had come for him to retire. The announcement came just hours after a local newspaper back in the bank’s home town of Lugano (the Italian speaking region of the confederation) had printed a  full expose  of BSI bank’s involvement with Jho Low, 1MDB and the money linked to the PetroSaudi joint venture deal in 2009. BSI has just been bought up by another Swiss private banking concern, EFG, which was the same bank which bought out  Falcon Bank’s business in Hong Kong in 2014,  once again landing it into 1MDB’s extended financial mess. The possible costs in terms of fines arising from BSI’s conduct over its Jho Low related bank accounts, which was an example of blatant high-value dealings with a politically exposed person, has interfered with the buy-out in recent week...

by Ganesh Sahathevan The Securities Commission Malaysia's decision to kill the SPAC market, or at least Cliq Energy and perhaps some other SPAC  companies has resulted in a situation where shareholders in Cliq will be deprived of the value of the intellectual property built up in these  companies. This unhappy circumstance would not have occurred had the SC stuck to its role as regulator and allowed shareholders to decide if the assets Cliq put before them were worth buying. Instead, the SC in a typical case of penis envy, desperately wanting  to participate , not merely regulate , the monies raised by the SPACs  embarked on a mission to make life difficult for Cliq and the other SPACs, repeatedly  knocking back suitable assets on grounds that made the SC's intentions obvious.In the process the SC seemed not to mind that it made itself look idiotic, issuing official statements that have become fodder for  of endless rounds of jokes at gatherings o...