Malaysia

New Documents

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission issued a statement on the arrest of the country’s former prime minister.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission issued a statement by Dato Sri Akhbar Satar, a member of the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board, on efforts to retrieve laundered funds.

Enforcement Actions

The Bank Negara Malaysia, along with several Malaysian regulators, ordered the seizure of assets belonging to the Malaysia-based financial technology company and its affiliates for overseeing various suspicious transactions.  

The Malaysia Ministry of Finance announced an agreement with a subsidiary of the London, U.K.-based firm to resolve claims related to the auditing of accounts for 1Malaysia Development Berhad and SRC International Sdn Bhd between 2011 and 2014.


Important Facts

  • The U.S. State Department identifies Malaysia as a major money laundering country. The jurisdiction is vulnerable to domestic and transnational criminal activity due to its porous borders and visa-free entry policy for nationals from over 160 countries. Although Malaysia maintains a largely up-to-date AML regime with effective monitoring and enforcement capabilities, the country nevertheless faces risks of fraud, corruption, smuggling, tax crimes, and terrorist financing. Malaysia is also used as a transit country to move drugs globally. Drug trafficking by Chinese, Iranian, and Nigerian organizations is a significant source of illegal proceeds. Malaysia is a source, destination and transit country for wildlife trafficking, with some contraband (like ivory) used as currency by the trafficking networks. Money laundering methods that are also used for terrorist financing include cash couriers, funds skimmed from charities, gold and gem smuggling, front companies and businesses. Illicit proceeds also are primarily generated by fraud, criminal breach of trust, illegal gaming, credit card fraud, counterfeiting, robbery, forgery, human trafficking, and extortion. The jurisdiction’s large cash and informal economies and unauthorized money services businesses pose significant vulnerabilities. In 2020, the country's former prime minister was found guilty on three counts of money laundering in connection to the 1MDB prosecution and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.
Source: 2021 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR)

Rankings

FATF i | 2013 Methodology

Technical Effectiveness
Compliant : 20 High : 0
Largely Compliant : 18 Substantial : 4
Partially Compliant : 2 Moderate : 7
Non-Compliant : 0 Low : 0

Malaysia's technical compliance was re-rated in a Oct. 31, 2018 follow-up report

BASEL i

Rank : 66/110
Score : 5.47/10

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL i

Rank : 57/179
Score : 51/100

Tax Justice Network i

Rank : 32/133
Score : 70/100