From FMT News

In written reply to Tian Chua, ministry says funds from Cayman Islands were used.

ananda krishnanKUALA LUMPUR: The Treasury has told Parliament that 1Malaysia Development Bhd had used its own funds, and not a loan from tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, to settle a RM2 billion debt with Malaysian banks.

In a written reply to Tian Chua, MP for Batu, the Finance Ministry said 1MDB had settled the loan last month using its own funds from its Cayman Islands account and not with the help of Ananda Krishnan as had been reported.

“Regarding the loan which 1MDB allegedly received from millionaire Ananda Krishnan, the report is not true,” the Finance Ministry said in a written reply, quoted by the Malaysian Insider.

The ministry said 1MDB had withdrawn US$2.318 billion in offshore savings in the Cayman Islands in two tranches; the first tranche of US$1.2bn was used to pay off “loan interest, working capital and other scheduled commitments”; and the second tranche of US$1.1bn held in a foreign currency account at BSI Bank Ltd in Singapore.

The second tranche would be used to repay foreign currency loans due this year, the ministry said.

In another parliamentary reply on Wednedsay, the Treasury told Tony Pua, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara that the funds were better placed in the Singapore bank “to facilitate easier withdrawals”, as Bank Negara Malaysia had stringent requirements for transactions over RM50 million.

News reports had said Ananda Krishnan had provided 1MDB with a loan to settle its debt with Maybank, RHB Bank, and three others. The settlement came six days before a default would have been triggered.

Maybank held 58.99% of the RM2 billion loan; RHB 32.41%; Alliance Investment Bank Bhd 4.06%; Malaysia Building Society Bhd 3.24% and Hwang DBS Investment Bhd 1.29%.

In February the Insider had quoted those with knowledge of talks between Ananda Krishnan and 1MDB as saying that the loan was settled with a guarantee from Ananda’s company Usaha Tegas.

The RM2 billion loan was is part of financial arrangements by a subsidiary of 1MDB to part finance the purchase of power companies. 1MDB owns several power companies which it bought from a company owned by Ananda Krishnan.

For more on this story go to: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/03/14/not-anandas-money-to-settle-1mdb-loan-says-treasury/

Related story:

Why are 1MDB’s Cayman funds parked in S’pore?

From Malaysiakini

PARLIAMENT The balance of US$1.103 billion that 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had invested in a Cayman Islands fund has been brought back but is being kept in a Singapore bank, the government said.

In a written answer to Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara), the Finance Ministry said the amount, equivalent to more than RM4 billion, has been parked in BSI Bank Limited Singapore (BSI Singapore).

YOURSAY ‘Since this involves bringing back the money, why would BNM object?’

Magnus: “The decision to use a bank in Singapore was done in order to smoothen the transaction as there are regulations from Bank Negara that transactions above RM50 million need its approval,” stated the Finance Ministry.

I cannot comprehend the gobbledygook from the ministry. Is the ministry saying it is trying to circumvent its SOP (standard operating procedures)/AMLA (Anti-Money Laundering Act)? And as well as BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia) SOP?

Anonymous #37634848: If they can take out such a big amount of money without BNM approval, why do they need approval to bring it back? After all, Najib is the finance minister and he is boss of BNM.

David: The money is parked in Singapore in order to by-pass certain regulations required by Bank Negara?

Doesn’t this sound like something illegal is going on behind Bank Negara’s back. This smells of a rotting rat.

I bet my last dollar that this is another lie and that the billions of ringgit are in actual fact gone. If the money is there, why else would there be a need to borrow from tycoon Ananda Krishnan to pay its (1Malaysia Development Berhad) debts?

Anonymous #44199885: So what is the problem in getting Bank Negara approval? Since this involves bringing back the money, why would Bank Negara object?

The reason for parking money in Singapore does not make any sense. Has the minister shown the funds in its account and the money is freely transferable to Malaysia, or is it to be sent back out again to another destination, or it is sitting in the bank only temporarily and must be remitted back to remitter of funds later?

Slumdog: The Finance Ministry under the responsibility of the PM has openly admitted that it has deposited the RM4 billion into BSI Bank Limited in Singapore.

This is to intentionally circumvent Bank Negara’s more stringent regulations for transactions above RM50 million.

This is a blatant disregard of the policy of the nation’s premier bank and possibly a breach of its regulations. So what is Bank Negara doing about this? Absolutely nothing?

Nitendo: Clearly stated, they used Singapore bank “to smoothen the transaction” due to strict regulation from BNM. Yet some people continue to condemn the decision taken by government.

NewMalaysia: This is the biggest joke of the day and it’s not even April’s Fool yet.

If 1MDB is a legitimate company set up in Malaysia by the Finance Ministry, why can’t it get approval from BNM to bring its money back?

Odin: Since the Finance Ministry – which is, of course, headed by Najib – has said that the decision to use a bank in Singapore was made in order to circumvent Bank Negara’s regulations, it proves beyond all reasonable doubt that Najib did indeed approve (as per Jho Low’s correspondence with Patrick Mahony) the injection of massive funds into the phoney joint venture contrived to siphon off money to Jho Low’s company, Good Star.

It may be that the claim made by the Finance Ministry is without substance – meaning, the money said to be parked in Singapore does not exist.

The claim was made merely to answer the question as to where the money is. The ministry does not want to tell where it really is, and it is unlikely that anyone can check with the banks in Singapore as to the veracity of the claim and get an answer.

Vijay47: I don’t believe this. Is the Finance Ministry actually saying that an agency owned by the Malaysian government “parked” its funds in Singapore so as to get around Bank Negara procedures and restrictions?

This must be the first time that people openly, publicly, and proudly announce how they circumvent the law.

ACR: Zeti Akhtar Aziz is a class A central banker voted by Global Finance Magazine as one of only five or six A-rated heads of central banks in the world for three consecutive years.

Not surprisingly, our monetary policy management is excellent. Malaysia’s economic malaise stems from fiscal policy, specifically not paying enough attention to our supply side, which is the key to becoming a high-income nation.

But BNM is also a regulator of financial institutions and intermediaries and is currently being tested by 1MDB. RHB and AmBank’s exposure to 1MDB was a stressful point till the loans were settled last month.

BSI is a Swiss Bank. What didn’t 1MDB declare to BNM when it transferred funds to PetroSaudi? These Cayman monies are from that source I believe.

Anonymous #21828131: I did smell a rat some time ago, now the rat is being stewed. What an idiotic explanation.

Was it repatriated to the Caymans the same way to beat the system imposed by BNM, and BNM did nothing and did not know anything?

This fatty and his sidekicks must be at the bottom of things. More information for you, MACC. But I don’t think you will find it useful. After all, you have given up on this before it even started.

J Yeoh: I am curious. If IMDB has RM4 billion, what is the need to borrow RM2 billion to pay its debts?

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers

For more on this story go to: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/291857

See related iNews Cayman story published March 11 2015 “1MDB moves $1.53b from Cayman Islands to bank in Singapore, not Malaysia” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/1mdb-moves-1-53b-from-cayman-islands-to-bank-in-singapore-not-malaysia/