1MDB
BSI Group’s chief executive Stefano Coduri has resigned with immediate effect, as the Swiss regulator has announced that it will seize CHF95m (£66.2m) from the firm and start enforcement procedures against two former bank employees, reports Bloomberg.
The Swiss Attorney General said it was taking legal action based on information from criminal probes into the global money laundering and embezzlement investigations surrounding 1Malaysia Development Bhd, or 1MDB.
Wholly owned by the Malaysian government, 1MDB was designed to drive strategic initiatives for long term economic development.
It was alleged in 2015 that the company had been used to siphon state funds into the accounts of prime minister Najib Razak and his associates.
Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said it had information suggesting “the offences of money laundering and bribery of foreign public officials currently under investigation in the context of the 1MDB case could have been prevented” by BSI, the BBC reports.
For sale
Earlier this year BTG Pactual reached an agreement to sell BSI to Switzerland-based EFG International for CHF1.33bn.
It is understood that the sale will still go ahead, with EFG having received regulatory approval from the Swiss authorities, but it will be at a reduced price.
