1MDB presented false documents?
PETALING JAYA: Whistle blower Sarawak Report today claimed it had been passed "disturbing evidence" showing that Swiss private bank BSI Bank Ltd had dismissed as "false bank statements" documents supplied by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) relating to its Brazen Sky Limited accounts.
It alleged that the documents which purported to show Brazen Sky's statement of account in November 2014, were supplied to various authorities by 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda.
"However, the Swiss private bank has told the Singapore authorities that the document did not originate from them and does not represent a true account of the assets of the 1MDB subsidiary," Sarawak Report said, adding that the information was reported back to Malaysia on March 13.
When asked to confirm or deny the report, Robert Ho, the sovereign wealth fund's director of corporate communications, refused to comment on the allegation.
"We will forward the questions to the relevant person," he told theSun when contacted today.
On March 11, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had in a parliamentary reply to questions from the Opposition, confirmed that the remaining US$1.103 billion (RM3.65 billion) had already been "redeemed" from Brazen Sky's offshore fund in the Cayman Islands and was now being "kept in US currency" at BSI Bank Limited, Singapore.
However, the whistleblower said that separate insider information gained in Singapore has corroborated that there is no actual cash in the relevant Brazen Sky Limited account.
"The account merely contains paper assets ..." the true value of which cannot be determined," Sarawak Report quoted its source as saying.
Arul reportedly told journalists in February that "the cash is in our accounts and in US dollars. I can assure you (about that) ... I have seen the documents".
Sarawak Report said it has now seen evidence that Arul had privately submitted documents from 1MDB to relevant authorities, in order to apparently substantiate the various claims about 1MDB's BSI Bank account in Singapore.
It said the evidence showed that the 1MDB CEO had sent copies of bank statements, including one for Brazen Sky's account for November last year, to regulatory bodies, which were then passed to BSI Bank in Singapore.
"BSI subsequently informed Singapore regulatory authorities that the document was false and did not originate from the bank itself," it added.