MONEY MASTER

Yak Yew Chee, a senior banker at Swiss-based BSI Singapore , has emerged for the first time as a key figure in Singapore's money laundering probe, according to documents released at Singapore High Court last week . According to Reuters report, Yak was not personally at the Singapore High Court on Friday, when he sought to unfreeze his Singapore funds to pay taxes and legal fees. His lawyer agreed to withdraw the petition after the prosecutor raised no objection in allowing Yak to transfer S$1.76 million (US$1.3 million) from his overseas bank accounts. In an affidavit filed at the court, he denied any wrongdoing or getting unlawful benefits from managing the accounts of 1MDB or its affiliates. Singapore authorities are conducting a money laundering probe into bank accounts linked to 1MDB, whose activities have triggered legal action across three continents. Some of the accounts Singapore is probing belong to Yak and have been frozen together with S$9.7 million of his f...

MUKHRIZ RESIGNS, AHMAD BASHAH SWORN IN AS KEDAH MB Malaysia's political tension seem to have gone one tension up, with former PM's Mahathir's son, Mukhriz Mahathir being replaced by Ahmad Bashah as the Kedah Menteri Besar (MB). Mukhriz out, Bashah in Mukhriz said he was removed because of his criticism of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over 1Malaysia Development Bhd and the RM2.6 billion donation. Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah, aged 66 was sworn in as the new Kedah Menteri Besar (MB) last Thursday. This has ended the state's leadership crisis after Mukhriz was being told that he no longer had the support of the majority in the state assembly. Ahmad Bashah, who led the revolt against Mukhriz is the deputy chief of Kedah UMNO. This is probably a sign of a weakened influence from the Mahathir's camp. LEMBAGA TABUNG HAJI (LTH) announces 5% dividend, 3% bonus Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) announced an annual dividend of 5% for 2015 for its depositors. Thi...

Finally some good news after so many uncertainties surrounding Malaysia's 1MDB. The $9.4 billion (RM40.4 billion) debt is one of the biggest financial scandal in the country. Prime Minister Najib Razak has been criticized heavily both by Opposition party and within UMNO, especially by former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir but he has persevered on...the result: a reduction of the billion of debt. Prime Minister Najib Razak has pleaded for patience from all parties and to give 1MDB til end of last year (2015) to settle the huge debt and on Thursday, 31st December 2015, Prime Minister Najib Razak said that 1Malaysia Development Bhd. will trim its debt by 40.4 billion ringgit ($9.4 billion) once it completes agreed asset sales, after the state-owned fund announced its latest asset-disposal pact.  Photos credit to http://1mdb.net/ 1MDB said earlier Thursday it would sell a 60 percent stake in a Kuala Lumpur project known as Bandar Malaysia Sdn. to a joint venture between Iskandar W...

1MDB near to $2.3 billion 1 Malaysia Development Bhd, which has been embroiled in much controversy for the high debt that it has accumulated is closing on an agreement to sell control of its power business to Chinese-led bidding group as part of its plan to wind down its' operations. An agreement with the consortium, which includes China General Nuclear Power Corp. and Qatar's Nebras Power QSC is coming to a near conclusion. The deal is said to have the 1MDB's Edra Global Energy Bhd. unit at about 10 billion ringgit ($2.3 billion), trumping a rival offer from Malaysian energy producer Tenaga Nasional Bhd.  With so much controversy surrounding the 1 Malaysia Development Bhd, the impending rising rate by the US Fed and the unconvincing economical data coming out from China, the Malaysian Ringgit has suffered an 18% drop this year, making it as the worst performing currency in Asia. This has been beneficial to the foreign bidders to buy the 1MDB power plants. T...