The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed that former director and representative of Goldman Sachs (Singapore) Pte (GS S'pore) Tim Leissner from taking part in capital market management in the city state for 10 years.

MAS alleged that Leissner made false statements on Penang-born billionaire Jho Low on behalf of Goldman Sachs (Asia) LLC, without the latter's knowledge or consent.

Leissner, MAS, has the overall responsibility for managing the relationship with 1MDB when Goldman Sachs was engaged by 1MDB to arrange three bond issuances from 2012 to 2013.

"Leissner was found to have issued an unauthorised reference letter to a financial institution based in Luxembourg in June 2015, using the letterhead of Goldman Sachs (Asia).

"The letter stated that Goldman Sachs conducted due diligence on Jho Low and his family, and had not detected any money laundering concerns with respect to Low or his family.

"These statements were untrue and were made by Leissner without Goldman Sachs' knowledge or consent,” it added in a media statement.

MAS said it has served the notice of its intention to issue a prohibition order against Leissner.

"The proposed order will prohibit Leissner for a period of 10 years from: (i) performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act; or (ii) taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of any capital market services firm in Singapore," it added.

"Today's announcement refers to a matter we discovered in January of this year and identified as a clear violation of the firm's standards," Goldman Sachs said in a statement.

"At that time we promptly took steps to separate Leissner
from the firm and reported the matter to regulatory authorities in several jurisdictions, including Singapore. We continue to cooperate with the MAS."

Jho Low and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz were among the four named in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil suits related to the alleged abuse of 1MDB funds.

The prime minister has denied abusing public funds for personal gain and has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Malaysian attorney-general.

In its statement, MAS also revealed that Standard Chartered Bank and Coutts & Co Ltd and their Singapore branches were fined S$5.2 million and S$2.4 million respectively for breaching anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.

The breaches occurred in the context of 1MDB-related fund flowing through these banks.