Two former employees of the bank embroiled in a saga about alleged dirty money transactions have been charged in Singapore.

Two former employees of BSI Singapore, which has been hit by a scandal concerning Malaysia-linked transactions, have been charged in a Singapore court for various criminal offences, a statement from legal authorities said.

Senior private bankers Yak Yew Chee, 57, and Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, 45, were each charged with three charges of forgery and four charges of failing to report information on suspicious transactions to authorities.

Meanwhile, Yeo Jiawei, who faces 11 charges for various offences, was the first BSI Singapore employee named by MAS to be charged in court for criminal offences, a statement from the attorney general’s chambers in Singapore said yesterday. 

In May 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore provided the public prosecutor with findings from its inspection of BSI Bank Limited, showing there had had been “serious misconduct by some members of the senior management and staff of BSI Singapore,” the AGC statement said. MAS referred the names of six employees of BSI Singapore to the public prosecutor for evaluation on whether they had committed criminal offences, it added. 

MAS has moved to revoke BSI Singapore’s merchant banking licence, the first time it has taken such measures against a bank since 1984. The issue surrounds transactions involving 1MDB, the state-run fund in Malaysia. It is alleged that prominent public figures in Malaysia, including the country’s prime minister, have siphoned off money from the fund for personal use. 1MDB has denied wrongdoing.

“Investigations into 1MDB-related fund flows through Singapore are ongoing. Other individuals, including the other BSI Singapore employees named by MAS, are being questioned or investigated,” the AGC statement said.

So far, four people have been charged with offences related to the matter. Authorities in the US, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Singapore are probing financial dealings connected to the affair.

The saga has led to calls for Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, who set up 1MDB in 2009, to resign.

As previously reported, the US Justice Department has filed lawsuits in the US to recover billions in assets it says were purchased by Najib's relatives and associates with money from 1MDB.

BSI Singapore is part of Switzerland-headquartered BSI. The latter bank has been acquired by another Swiss private bank, EFG International - part of an ongoing round of merger and acquisition activity in wealth management.

Separately, MAS in July said it has found failings around anti-money laundering and other controls at Falcon Private Bank, UBS, DBS and Standard Chartered, and is conducting further checks before deciding on any specific actions.