THE central bank of Mauritius last year rejected a bid by two men with links to Low Taek Jho, the alleged mastermind behind the misappropriation of 1Malaysia Development Bhd funds, to buy a controlling stake in a bank in the island nation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The report said former Goldman Sachs Group Inc partner Tim Leissner, who was in charge of the Wall Street bank’s southeast Asia operations, and Thai businessman Phengphian Laogumnerd, Low’s friend, tried to buy Qatari-owned Century Banking Corp of Mauritius.

The two made the bid a few months after the United States Department of Justice  announced a civil action to seize US$1 billion in assets it believed were bought using money diverted from 1MDB. The suit also claimed that the conspirators sometimes used small banks launder the money.

WSJ reported that regulators on the Indian Ocean island nation blocked the bid over concerns with Leissner’s connection with the financial scandal, and then notified the US Federal Bureau of Investigations.

DoJ is investigating the nature of Leissner’s relationship with Low. Leissner, a German, was the primary Goldman executive handling 1MDB’s account since the firm was started in 2009, and worked with Low, who was 1MDB’s adviser’ to raise billions of dollars. Leissner insists all his dealings with Low were above board.

Phengphian is a manager of Songkhla Finishing Co, a technology contracting company in Thailand that would fund the deal, sources told WSJ.

Century Banking is owned by Ghanim Bin Saad Al Saad Group of Qatar. It opened in 2011 and is located along the waterfront in Mauritian capital of Port Louis.

The Mauritius  corporate registry showed that Leissner set up a company called Blackfish International (Mauritius) Ltd on September 29, 2016.

On November 11, Phengphian became a member of the Century board, and on December 29, he transferred about €10 million (RM49 million) from an account in Hong Kong to his Century Banking account, sources told WSJ.

The money was converted into Mauritian rupees and passed through two companies before ending up in the Century Banking account of Blackfish, which converted it to dollars and transferred about US$7.7 million (RM32.5 million) to a Mauritius law firm hired by Phengphian to help purchase the bank, sources said.

Records show that a lawyer at the firm is a director of Blackfish, along with Leissner.

In late December 2016 or early this year, Leissner applied to Mauritius authorities to acquire a controlling stake in Century Banking, and become an executive and board member, said Leissner’s lawyer, Marc Harris, and Century Banking chief executive Muniruddeen Lallmahamood.

The Mauritius central bank investigated the transaction after it learnt that Leissner was associated with 1MDB and Low, sources said.

The central bank later rejected  Leissner’s application over “compliance concerns,” said Harris.

Leissner was a director of a fully owned subsidiary of the bank for several months, ending in April, corporate registry records show—a move that was approved by a different regulator.

In September, the German banker was barred from the US securities industry for failing to cooperate with an investigation related to his departure from Goldman.

Phengphian was appointed chairman of Century Banking’s board in January. – November 8, 2017.