Singapore jails, fines Swiss bank’s ex-manager in 1MDB case

Former branch manager at Falcon Bank, Jens Fred Sturzenegger of Switzerland, arrives at the State Court in Singapore, on Jan. 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Joseph Nair)

SINGAPORE: A court in Singapore has found a former manager at a private bank guilty of failing to report more than $1.26 billion in suspicious transactions in a case linked to the indebted Malaysian state fund 1 MDB.
The court sentenced Jens Sturzenegger, a Swiss national and former manager at Falcon Private Bank, to 28 weeks in jail and fined him 128,000 Singapore dollars ($89,143) on Wednesday. He pleaded guilty to six charges including not disclosing information and lying to investigators.
In October, regulators ordered Falcon Private Bank to close down in Singapore and pay a fine of 4.3 million Singapore dollars ($2.99 million).
Investigators in Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and the US are investigating allegations that people close to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stole over $1 billion from 1MDB.