Bank Negara governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus speaks at the presentation of the central bank's third quarter performance in Kuala Lumpur November 16, 2018. — Picture by Razak Ghazali
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal mustn’t happen again, Bank Negara Malaysia’s new governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus has said.
Close to a year since she was appointed as the central bank’s governor, Nor Shamsiah was asked what safeguards were required to prevent another 1MDB from occurring again.
In response, Nor Shamsiah was quoted by newswire Bloomberg as saying: “We cannot allow another 1MDB event to recur. This 1MDB affair has put a spotlight not just on Malaysia but also on banks in a number of other countries. And that is why we have the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations.
“In countries that are assessed against that raft of recommendations, FATF wants to see the areas of improvement a country needs to undertake in order to strengthen controls against money laundering. You should read the report on Malaysia and the report of other countries. Most authorities have taken action against their regulatees.
“It was a useful exercise for us because we did recognise that while we have a good preventive framework, there are areas that we need to strengthen. These include controls and governance in the banks as well as the prosecution system in Malaysia that needs to target more high-risk crimes.”
Nor Shamsiah reportedly aired her comments in her first formal interview with international news agencies.
Nor Shamsiah was last year appointed to be the central bank’s governor from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2023.
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