Singapore police freeze two bank accounts related to 1MDB probe, News, News

This is the second arrest made by the Special Task Force probing allegations that some US$700m was channelled in to Prime Minister Najib’s bank accounts through entities linked to 1MDB, one of them being Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.

The Business Times reported on Wednesday morning that the police froze the two accounts on 15 July under Section 47 of the Corruption, Drug Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of benefits) Act, Chapter 65A.

1MDB representatives and Malaysian government officials weren’t immediately available for comment.

1MDB, a property-to-energy group whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, is facing criticism over its debt of almost 42 billion ringgit ($11.09 billion) and alleged mishandling of its finances. The paper cited investigation documents from an ongoing Malaysian investigation. Mr. Najib hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing. It said none of them belonged to Najib.

Lawyer Wan Azmir Wan Majid said the Prime Minister’s legal representatives had yet to receive a response to the letter sent to the publisher of the WSJ, Dow Jones, on July 8, adding that the deadline passed yesterday.

It was first reported that Lim had signed on to be PM Najib Razak’s new public campaign coordinator to win over Malaysians to the embattled minister in May this year. Najib has denied any personal impropriety as suggested in reports by the Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report.

The investigations have intensified pressure on Mr. Najib to resign, but support for him appears strong among the United Malays National Organization, the bedrock of a coalition that has ruled Malaysia since 1957.

Singapore’s central bank has said it is in contact with financial institutions in relation to the 1MDB probe and Falcon Bank has said it is cooperating with their enquiries. The commission said the man is a managing director of a company and will be remanded in custody for five days, but it didn’t provide any more details.