It has been exactly a year since the Luxembourg based subsidiary of the Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild was fined almost 9 million euros, as part of the vast political and financial scandal linked to the 1MDB Sovereign Fund in Malaysia.
Malaysia has been rocked since 2015 by the 1MDB scandal, created in 2009 when Prime Minister Najib Razak came to power to modernize the country, but which was at the center of allegations of corruption, triggering investigations in several countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.
Following investigations led throughout 2016, the Financial Sector Supervisory Commission (CSSF) sanctioned Edmond de Rothschild, imposing a penalty of 8,985,000 euros, notably for failing to fulfill its obligations regarding the establishment of a solid internal governance mechanism to cover the compliance issues banks face in order to battle money laundering.
The Luxembourg bank, added to the list of establishments hit with the scandal with international ramifications, said that it has since taken measures to strengthen its control processes, after having actively participated in the procedure launched by the CSSF. Edmond de Rothschild notably “strengthened and substantially changed its management teams” and reviewed internal governance, noted the CSSF, which said it had taken into account “these positive initiatives” to determine the amount of the fine.
However, when one issue is laid to rest, another arises. Sources in Luxembourg have recently been leaking information involving a new money laundering scandal, and Edmond de Rothschild is at the heart of it once again. Substantial evidence has not yet been disclosed but will be revealed shortly.
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