BNM told to reveal violations by entities fined over 1MDB issue
Charles Santiago says the public has the right to know the reasons for Bank Negara imposing ‘highest fines’ on relevant bodies and institutions in relation to 1MDB.
PETALING JAYA: A DAP legislator has called on Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) to reveal the regulations that were breached by certain bodies and financial institutions which were fined over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) issue.
Klang MP Charles Santiago said the public has the right to know why the entities were fined.
He said former BNM governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s admission that the fines imposed were “probably the highest in history” is cause for concern.
“It involves public funds. The public needs to know what sort of rules and regulations were broken.
“There must have been serious violations for BNM to impose the highest fines,” he told FMT.
“Obviously they were fined because rules and regulations were broken. If not, no one would have been fined,” he added.
Santiago also called on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and Public Accounts Committee to probe the matter.
Zeti, who retired as BNM governor last year, was quoted by Sin Chew Daily as saying that the central bank was able to issue letters of administrative compound to relevant bodies and financial institutions in breach of its regulations in the 1MDB case.
“I would say the fines were probably the highest in history,” she was quoted as saying.
She added that the primary objective of BNM in dealing with the 1MDB issue was to ensure the integrity of the country’s financial system.
Zeti had also said that although outsiders had very high expectations from BNM, it did not have the power to prosecute.
She said BNM however had comprehensive laws, including the Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 and Financial Services Act 2013 to preserve the integrity, stability and healthy functioning of the financial system.
In March last year, BNM said it would initiate “appropriate action” against 1MDB for failing to produce evidence that it had used the allocated US$1.83 billion for debt management and restructuring exercises overseas.
BNM fined 1MDB on April 28, giving the state-owned investment fund a May 30 deadline to settle the fine. 1MDB paid the fine on May 25.
The fine was one of the last actions by Zeti before she retired on April 30 last year, with deputy governor Muhammad Ibrahim taking over the next day.
Muhammad later said the central bank’s investigations on 1MDB had concluded.
Prior to that, the central bank had acted against AmBank, issuing a fine of RM53.7 million for breaching anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism finance obligations.
Zeti has since moved to Iclif, an organisation created and funded by BNM since 2003. She is the chairman of the organisation which is an Asia-based international centre dedicated to executive education, research, coaching and consulting services in leadership development, organisational effectiveness and corporate governance.
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