Bank Negara urged to act on 1MDB funds in Cayman Islands
The existence of 1MDB’s RM7 billion in the Cayman Islands and its return to Malaysia must be verified.
KUALA LUMPUR: Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli urged Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, in a statement on Wednesday, to invoke the Anti Money Laundering Act and ensure that a reported RM7 billion kept in the Cayman Islands by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had indeed returned to Malaysia as claimed by the sovereign wealth fund and entered the local financial system.
“The Governor should probe which financial institutions are holding the reported RM7 billion,” said Rafizi in the statement which also called on the Governor to give some time to the Opposition MPs to hear their views on the issue. “She should also ensure that 1MDB has sufficient funds to repay the RM2 billion owing to Maybank and RHB Bank, since the repayment has been twice postponed.”
He warned that if Bank Negara is unable to issue the all clear signal on the RM7 billion, it will further fuel public speculation and lead many to conclude that the RM7 billion, if it exists, did not return to Malaysia.
He noted that 1MDB has sought a further postponement of its repayment of the RM2 billion and expressed the hope that this will not affect the country’s credit rating and the local banking and financial industry and system.
The consensus is that if 1MDB really has RM7 billion parked in the Cayman islands and it has since returned to Malaysia, the company would not seek a further postponement in repaying the RM2 billion due to the two local banks.
The Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the western Caribbean Sea, is a major world offshore financial centre.
The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. The Cayman Islands are considered to be part of the geographical Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles.
