Falcon Bank's ex-Singapore branch manager slapped with 16 1MDB-related charges
THE STAR
Falcon Private Bank’s Singapore office on the 26th floor of Centennial Tower. PHOTO: ST FILE.
SINGAPORE: Singapore authorities have charged Falcon Private Bank's former Singapore branch manager Jens Sturzenegger with 16 offences relating to Singapore's probe into Malaysian state fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). He is expected to plead guilty on Jan 11, it was disclosed in a Singapore court on Thursday.
In October last year, Falcon Bank became the second bank to be closed down by Singapore regulators over 1MDB connections, after BSI in May.
Sturzenegger is the fourth person charged in Singapore amid global-wide probes into money-laundering and corruption at the Malaysian fund. 1MDB has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
On Wednesday, the lawyer for Yeo Jiawei, a former BSI banker found guilty of attempting to tamper with witnesses in an 1MDB-related case, said he will appeal his conviction and sentence.
Yeo, 34, was sentenced on Dec 22 to a 30-month jail term, the longest yet handed down by a Singapore court in 1MDB-related cases. He also faces money-laundering charges, set to be heard in court this April.
Yeo is the third former BSI banker to be found guilty in the city's 1MDB investigations.
Yak Yew Chee was sentenced in November to an 18-week jail term and fined for forging documents and failing to disclose suspicious transactions allegedly related to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho. His subordinate, Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, was jailed for two weeks and fined on Dec 16 for similar offenses. Yak and Seah didn't file appeals, according to their lawyers. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
