ANZ chairman David Gonski and board oversaw the movement of money from 1 MDB via Najib’s accounts;Hsien Yang’s presence raises questions about Singapore’s inaction

by Ganesh Sahathevan

While ANZ’s new CEO Shyane Elliot continues to deny that he was on the AMMB board despite the evidence one group of people within the ANZ hierarchy have been happy to literally stay aloof from from their hired help. I refer here to ANZ’s chairman David Gonski and the ANZ board of directors, who include Lee Hsein Yang, brother to Singapore PM Lee Hsien Yang.

The board led by Gonski are ultimately responsible for governance, and Australian laws make it very hard if not impossible for Gonski and his board to play the lord who cannot be held responsible for the misbehavior of his servants.

David Gonski was appointed chairman of ANZ in February 2014.He was among others, a director of Singtel from 2012-2105. Gonski was therefore in charge of the board at the relevant time.

As Malaysiakini reported the matter of the SRC International transfers into Najib’s accounts:

For the December 2014 transaction, former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd transferred RM40 million to its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd on Dec 24 which was subsequently passed on to Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd on the same day.

A total of RM32 million from this amount found its way into two of the Ambank private bank accounts two days later, in two tranches of RM27 million and RM5 million.

Lee Hsien Yang’s membership of the board raises further questions about Singapore’s attempts to make the 1 MDB scandal go away.

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