Jho Low’s private banker withdraws request to unfreeze funds in Singapore
Photo: Olivia Harris / Reuters
A motion to unfreeze the assets of a senior private banker implicated in the ongoing 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) probe by Singapore authorities has been withdrawn.
Senior counsel Roderick Martin, who represents Yak Yew Chee of Swiss bank BSI Singapore, had filed a total of four affidavits on behalf of Yak since 23 Nov 2015. Yak requested that some $10 million in his accounts here be released to him, in order to pay for his taxes, legal fees and daily expenses. Yak’s assets were seized in September 2015.
But during a hearing on Friday morning (5 Feb), Martin formally withdrew the motion. Instead, he told Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon that Yak would be remitting some $1.7 million from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Martin asked for reassurance that the funds would not be seized by authorities.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Kiat Theng testily replied that the question should have been asked before the affidavits were filed. Instead, he said that the request had been made after the third affidavit, when Yak had been “confronted with the truth” by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD).
Yak had failed to act “in good faith and with clean hands”, added Tan. Nevertheless, the DPP added that the state had no objection to the transfer of funds, given that Singapore authorities do not have jurisdiction over Yak’s foreign assets.
This is the first legal case related to Singapore authorities’ probe into funds possibly linked to 1MDB.
Yak was reportedly the relationship manager for 1MDB Global Investments Ltd, Aabar Investment PJS Limited and SRC International Sdn Bhd, as well as Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.
Jho Low has been repeatedly linked to the widening scandal around the 1MDB state investment fund, which is mired in corruption claims.
On Monday, authorities announced that a “large number” of bank accounts had been seized in relation to the 1MDB probe. They included four of Yak’s accounts with the Development Bank of Singapore, Bank of China, Commerce International Merchants Bank and the Overseas Chines Banking Corporation, which were seized by the CAD under section 35 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore have been investigating possible money-laundering and other offences related to 1MDB in Singapore since mid-2015.
