MAS to issue Prohibition Orders against 3 individuals over 1MDB-related transactions

MAS to issue Prohibition Orders against 3 individuals over 1MDB-related transactions

SINGAPORE - The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Tuesday that it has served notice of its intention to issue Prohibition Orders (POs) against three individuals over 1MDB-related transactions.

The three individuals are Mr Kelvin Ang Keng Wee, a former representative of Maybank Kim Eng Securities, CEO of NRA Capital Mr Kevin Scully, and its former head of research Mr Lee Chee Waiy.

If the POs take effect, the individuals will be prohibited from providing any capital markets and financial advisory services.

They are also prohibited from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder of any capital markets services or financial advisory firm in Singapore.

According to MAS, NRA was appointed through Mr Ang's introduction to perform a valuation of PetroSaudi Oil Services.

Last Wednesday (May 24), Mr Ang was convicted for bribing Mr Lee with $3,000 to expedite the preparation of a valuation report on PetroSaudi.

[[nid:387868]]

Mr Lee had been the primary person in NRA working on the valuation.

Apart from accepting the bribe, he was also found to have applied inappropriate methodology and assumptions in the valuation of PetroSaudi Oil Services.

As CEO of NRA , Mr Scully had failed to ensure that his analyst, Mr Lee, had exercised sufficient care, judgment and objectivity in the valuation, said MAS.

The proposed PO duration for Mr Ang and Mr Lee will be for a period of six years, while Mr Scully may face a 3-year prohibition.

Lifetime POs issued by MAS

MAS said on Tuesday that it has also issued lifetime POs against two convicted employees and a 15-year PO against another individual.

The two that were issued lifetime POs are former Falcon Private Bank branch manager Jens Fred Sturzenegger and Yak Yew Chee from BSI Bank Limited.

Yvonne Seah Mei Ying was issued a 15-year PO.

Sturzenegger, who is a Swiss national, was convicted on Jan 11 of financial crimes including providing false information to authorities in an attempt to cover up his knowledge of Falcon Bank's relationship with Malaysian tycoon Jho Low.

Sturzenegger was sentenced to 28 weeks in jail.

Yak and Seah were convicted of multiple counts of failing to report suspicious transactions and of forging reference letters at BSI Bank on behalf of Mr Low. Yak was sentenced to 18 weeks jail and fined $24,000.

All three are prohibited from providing any capital markets and financial advisory services.

klim@sph.com.sg

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.