A new charge levelled by Singapore authorities against former private banker Yeo Jiawei has revealed SRC International's link to the 1MDB saga.
According to Singapore-based Today Online, Yeo was charged with facilitating the transfer of US$11.95 million (RM48 million) from SRC International to Affinity Equity International Partners, a company owned by Tan Kim Loong.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Tan was the beneficiary owner of Tanore Finance when it was first set up, the same British Virgin Islands entity that sent US$681 million to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's personal bank accounts.
The US-based publication had also reported that Tanore Finance was the partial beneficiary of the US$3.5 billion that 1MDB was supposed to pay Aabar Investments PJS but was diverted to a British Virgin Islands company bearing a similar name - Aabar Investments PJS Limited.
The money from the wrong Aabar Investments PJS Limited passed through intermediaries before ending up in Tanore Finance.
The Singapore investigation is significant as it reveals the first link between SRC International and individuals connected to the 1MDB issue.
Previously, apart from SRC being a former subsidiary of 1MDB, it was never directly linked to the web of multi-million ringgit transactions by the Malaysian fund that is now the subject of international investigations.
The controversial transactions by SRC International, now under the Finance Ministry, was previously viewed as independent of 1MDB, among them were the transfers of RM42 million and RM27 million, through intermediaries, into Najib's personal bank accounts.
Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had cleared Najib of these transactions on the ground that the prime minister was not aware of them.
Report: Investigations have reached critical stage
Today Online reported Singapore prosecutors as saying that the latest charge against Yeo, his seventh as a result of the republic's investigation into 1MDB, opens an entirely new front in the city-state's probe.
"The new charge is significant as it opens up an entirely new front in the investigations. It reveals that the investigations have reached a critical stage, with a higher level of urgency and sensitivity.
"As they are moving closer to the centre of a complex web of cross-jurisdictional criminal transactions, moving closer to the origins of the money flows and the principals that the accused has been interacting with," Singapore's second solicitor-general Kwek Mean Luck was quoted as saying.
The new charge claimed Yeo fraudulently signed a December 2013 reference letter to Citigroup Inc's head of anti-money laundering to facilitate the US$11.95 million transfer from SRC International to Equity International Partners Limited.
According to Singapore's The Straits Times, Yeo was accused of using Pacific Harbour Global Growth Fund AA4 as an intermediary for the transfer of the funds.
He allegedly signed a fraudulent reference letter to dupe Citigroup into thinking the letter was signed by the authority of BSI Bank.
Yeo was slapped with the first charge on April 16 for receiving ill-gotten funds.
On April 28, he was slapped with another two charges for allegedly perverting the course of justice and cheating his former employer, BSI Bank.
On May 4, Yeo faced another three charges for allegedly cheating BSI Bank by dishonest concealment, transferring funds which represented his benefit from cheating and perverting the course of justice.
