Black Friday is Now! Don’t miss out on up to 60% OFF InvestingProCLAIM SALE

Swiss making progress in 1MDB case despite Malaysia's silence - top prosecutor

Published 05/04/2017, 15:50
Updated 05/04/2017, 16:00
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO - A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur
CSGN
-

By John Miller

BERN (Reuters) - Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber said on Wednesday that his money laundering investigation into Malaysian fund 1MDB was making progress despite Malaysian authorities' refusal to cooperate.

Combing through money laundering reports and bank documents with help from Singapore, Luxembourg and the United States was bearing fruit for his office, the OAG, he said.

"It's not hopeless, in fact it's the opposite," Lauber said.

"We're still confident we can successfully conclude the process ... in particular the open cases against the two banks," he said at a news conference, referring to Swiss private banks BSI and Falcon which have already had to pay out in the case.

1MDB, once a pet project of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, is under investigation in at least six countries over billions of dollars of suspected misappropriations.

Presenting his 2016 annual report, Lauber outlined OAG activities including its investigation of bribery linked to Brazil's oil firm Petrobras, investigations into world soccer body FIFA personnel, and tracking terrorist financing.

"This place (Switzerland) is not a safe harbour, not for terrorists, not for money launderers, not for international corruption," he said. "We don't tolerate things like 1MDB, we don't tolerate things like Petrobras, we don't tolerate things like the whole FIFA soccer complex."

In the Petrobras case, the OAG said it has confiscated $1.1 billion in assets linked to the Brazilian oil group, up from $800 million in 2015. More than 1,000 Swiss accounts have been examined, including from Brazil's former speaker of the lower house, Eduardo Cunha, who was jailed last month.

Investigations into Sepp Blatter, ex-president of FIFA, on corruption charges and into Franz Beckenbauer for his role in Germany's bid for the 2006 World Cup were continuing, it said.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO - A man walks past a 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the funds flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur

Lauber said he was also in touch with Dutch authorities over an international investigation made public on Thursday into suspected tax evasion and money laundering via Credit Suisse (S:CSGN) accounts.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.