The anti-corruption organisation Global Witness published a 26-report criticising the UK Financial Conduct Authority for its failure to investigate ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND AND STANDARD CHARTERED over their alleged involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
According to the US Department of Justice, which has already seized over USD 1 billion in potentially tainted assets, USD 3.5 billion were embezzled from Malaysia’s development fund. Probes in other jurisdictions are also in full swing.
The reaction of the FCA, by contrast, has been “pitiful”, according to Global Witness. Two British banks, RBS and Standard Chartered, allegedly managed over USD 2 billion of suspicious funds connected to 1MBD.
The two financial intermediaries have already been fined by Swiss and Singaporean regulators and are currently under investigation in the US.
A recent enforcement action by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) resulted in the Singaporean branch of Standard Chartered Bank receiving a USD 4 million for its alleged links to 1MDB. MAS discovered 28 breaches of its anti-money laundering and terrorism financing requirements between 2010 and 2013 due to significant lapses in the branch’s customer due diligence controls.
The Singaporean authority noted that no wilful misconduct had been identified and that the bank had already taken measures to strengthen anti-money laundering controls.
The FCA, however, has declined to start its own probe. Instead it has chosen to rely on foreign prosecutors because the supposed wrongdoing by those two British institutions did not involve British assets or clients.
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