The Swiss bank UBS, at the center of allegations of money laundering by Sabah’s chief minister Musa Aman, said it couldn’t comment on the claims although a spokesman for the bank said UBS is fully committed to assisting in the fight against money laundering.
“UBS does not comment on market speculation or rumor,” Mark Panday, a spokesman for the bank’s operations in Hong Kong, told Asia Sentinel. “However, in all markets in which it operates, UBS’s policy is to cooperate fully with regulators. Indeed, it is committed to assisting in the fight against money-laundering, including corruption and terrorist financing.”
The Sarawak Report, an NGO based in Kuching and London, alleged in a report made public Sunday that more than US$90 million was passed circuitously in 2007 by Sabah lawyer Richard Christopher Barnes from Musa into Barnes’ UBS Hong Kong account before it was forwarded in turn to a UBS Zurich account in the chief minister's own name.
The money transfers allegedly were shepherded by a UBS client manager named Denis Chua, who originally worked at the Singapore branch for HSBC Hong Kong until 2006. According to the report, Chua moved to UBS, taking the accounts with him.
The Sarawak Report said Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption discovered the transactions in an investigation into alleged money-laundering by a Musa associate, Michael Chia Tien Foh, and compiled a detailed list of the transactions between Barnes, Chia and the UBS accounts.
Denis Chua is believed to have left UBS. A call to the UBS Hong Kong office elicited no response. Panday declined any further comment on the matter.
Hong Kong’s money-laundering law, which appears to be focused mainly on drug trafficking, nonetheless make it an offense for bankers, lawyers or accountants to deal with property they know or have reasonable grounds to believe represents the proceeds of drug trafficking or other serious crimes. Offenders are subject to a maximum of 14 years in prison. Records must be kept on any transaction over HK$8,000, the rough equivalent of US$1,000.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s voluminous guidelines put the onus on banks and other financial institutions and their professional employees to ensure that companies follow legal guidelines on deposits. As required by the guidelines, banks make it a common practice to subject all employees dealing with the transfer of funds to regular, detailed briefings on money-laundering statutes and the penalties involved.
The need to guard against money laundering received new impetus in 2004 when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority urged banks to be especially alert to the possibility of money laundering as the territory prepared tReda moreo become an outlet for yuan-denominated deposits. In June of that year, the HKMA issued a supplement to the territory's anti-money laundering guidelines, setting out "Know-Your-Customer" principles, taking account of the requirements of a paper on "Customer Due Diligence for Banks" issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Read more
Friday, April 20, 2012
ICAC And UBS Say No Comment to Sabah Money Laundering Report
Saturday, December 13, 2008
'Skim Cepat Kaya' Cara America
The world are full of all kind of crooks. Watch out for those elegantly dressed in Armani suits, suave and can effortlessly smooth-talked you into parting with your fat wallet without a hint of suspicion because you are dumb enough to judge a book by its cover.
Hedge funds are now under scrutiny for fraudulent practices and are likely to be the next big financial meltdown dragging the world into bigger financial chaos.
Malaysia is no exception to "Skim Cepat Kaya" or "Ganda Wang Anda" get rich quick pyramid scams.
The Americans are no less inventive when it comes to dirty rotten scoundrel's inventiveness to cheat the public.In fact he is even smarter than the few Ahmads and Chongs that got caught in this country and charged in court for money laundering.
The Malaysian scams are crude by comparison to the American sophisticated scams called hedge funds.
Suggested reading:
Hedge funds 'facing credit storm'
US bankers facing fraud charges
Credit crisis claims hedge fund
Below is an article from BBC on one such fantastic scam that went undetected for many years and was only exposed by the culprit himself.
$50bn fraud charge at hedge fund
 The Madoff fraud could be one of the biggest yet |
The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market has been arrested and charged with securities fraud, in what may be one of the biggest fraud cases yet.
Bernard Madoff ran a hedge fund which ran up $50bn (£33.5bn) of fraudulent losses and which he called "one big lie", prosecutors allege.
Mr Madoff is alleged to have used money from new investors to pay off existing investors in the fund.
His lawyer said he would fight to get through these "unfortunate events".
The 70-year-old has been released on $10m bail.
High-profile victims
Bramdean Alternatives has emerged as a victim of the fraud, with 9.5% of its investments exposed to the New York broker, it said in a statement on its website.
Nicola Horlick, the high profile fund manager labelled superwoman by the UK press, is the company's nominated fund manager.
 |  The collapse of Madoff is likely to accelerate the disappearance of hedge funds  Robert Peston  |
In an interview earlier this year with the Financial Times, Ms Horlick praised Mr Madoff.
"He is someone who is very, very good at calling the US equity market," she said.
She added: "This guy has managed to return 1% -1.2% per month, year after year after year."
'Pyramid scheme'
Mr Madoff founded Bernard L.Madoff Investment Securities in 1960, but also ran a separate hedge fund business.
According to the US Attorney's criminal complaint filed in court, Mr Madoff told at least three employees on Wednesday that the hedge fund business - which served up to 25 clients and had $17.1bn of money under management - was a fraud and had been insolvent for years, losing at least $50bn.Read more........