In the latest of Roger Ng’s 1MDB trial, an FBI agent claims that his wife played a major role in creating a shell company to open an account with Swiss financial giant UBS.
Roger Ng’s wife, Hwee Bin Lim, «played a central and crucial role» in helping her husband launder illicit payments from the 1MDB bond deals, according to a «Bloomberg» report citing U.S. prosecutors.
Prosecutors claim that Low and his associates siphoned at least $500 million from the first $1.75 billion bond transactions called «Project Magnolia» with ex-Goldman colleague Tim Leissner testifying that he had received more than $60 million from Low into accounts controlled by his then-wife Judy Chan Leissner before using those accounts to send $35.1 million to Ng through an entity set up by Lim.
UBS Account
In the latest development, FBI special agent Sean Fern took the stand and testified about Lim’s role in setting the shell entity using a raft of emails as proof.
According to Fern, Lim inquired about creating a shell entity one day before the first 1DMB bond deal closed. The shell company – first named «Silken Waters» before later being renamed «Victoria Square» – was opened along with a bank account at UBS.
Although Lim’s mother, Tan Kim Chin, was listed as the beneficial owner, Fern said he traced emails showing that bankers communicated directly with Lim about Victoria Square and the UBS account.
Ng has argued that the money sent from Leissner’s wife to Lim, who has not been charged, was for an unrelated business transaction.
