Ex-Falcon Bank manager jailed 28 weeks, fined S$128,000 for 1MDB-related charges

SWISS national and former Singapore branch manager at Falcon Bank, Jens Sturzenegger, has been sentenced to 28 weeks' jail and fined S$128,000 after pleading guilty to six charges linked to the movement of funds from scandal-riddled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Another 10 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.

Last Thursday, Sturzenegger, 42, was accused of, among other things, failing to disclose suspicious transactions totalling some US$1.3 billion and giving false information between July 2015 and October last year that were intended to cause enforcement officers to omit to probe Low Taek Jho's involvement in several bank accounts managed by Falcon Bank.

Falcon is one of two Swiss private banks at the centre of Malaysia's protracted financial scandal.

Sturzenegger is the first foreigner and fifth person to be charged in Singapore's ongoing high-profile money laundering probe into the tainted funds.

Others implicated in the scandal include Yeo Jiawei, one of three former BSI bankers, who was handed a 30-month jail term for attempting to obstruct the course of justice. A separate trial linked to 1MDB is expected to begin in April at the earliest.

Two other ex-BSI bankers, Yak Yew Chee and Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, were sentenced to jail terms of 18 weeks and two weeks, respectively, for forging documents and failing to disclose suspicious transactions allegedly related to Low. Both were also fined.

Former remisier at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Kelvin Ang has also been charged for corruption in the 1MDB-related case.