THE Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has filed a report with the Singapore Police Force against the author of an article published in the Straits Times Review on November 5, which it said contained false and malicious statements, and impugned the integrity of MAS as a financial regulator.

The article, titled “Lee Hsien Loong becomes 1MDB’s key investigation target”, alleged that Malaysia had signed several unfair agreements with Singapore in exchange for Singapore banks’ assistance in laundering 1MDB funds.

“The article is baseless and defamatory,” MAS said in a statement.

“The article ignores the unprecedented and robust actions taken by MAS over the last two years against Singapore-based banks and bankers in relation to their roles in 1MDB-related transactions, in most instances ahead of enforcement actions by foreign jurisdictions.

“It also makes false allegations that Singapore was forced to reopen its investigations into 1MDB only after the change in political leadership in Malaysia,” said the central bank.

“Investigations into the 1MDB case had never been closed,” said MAS.

At its Annual Report Press Conferences in 2016 and 2017, MAS said it had made clear it would not hesitate to investigate any new leads or evidence related to 1MDB-related fund flows.

This was reiterated in the statement jointly issued yesterday by MAS, the country’s Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Singapore Police Force.

MAS said Singapore’s law enforcement and regulatory agencies had also cooperated actively with their counterparts in Malaysia, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States during the tenure of the previous Malaysian government.

“MAS has placed utmost importance on safeguarding its integrity as a financial regulator, and takes seriously any false allegations to the contrary,” the statement added. – Bernama, November 9, 2018.