The US Justice Department has announced multiple charges against two former Goldman Sachs bankers linked to Malaysia’s state investment fund scandal.

The agency said on Thursday that Tim Leissner, former Southeast Asia chairman, conspired to launder money and violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by paying bribes to government officials in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, reports CNN.

Leissner has pleaded guilty and will forfeit $43.7 million.

The Justice Department also unsealed an indictment against Roger Ng, a former Goldman Sachs banker, and Malaysian financier Jho Low, who allegedly played a central role in the scheme to launder billions of dollars from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund.

The US government has said that Ng and Low also paid bribes to foreign officials.

Ng and Leissner allegedly worked to circumvent internal accounting controls at Goldman, which underwrote more than $6 billion in bonds issued by 1MDB in 2012 and 2013.

The bank made about $600 million in fees and revenue for its work with the fund, according to the indictment.

Ng was arrested earlier on Thursday in Malaysia, according to the Justice Department, while Low remains at large.

Another Goldman banker, Andrea Vella, has been placed on leave, pending a review of alleged conduct related to the 1MDB case, an informed source told CNN.

A spokesperson for Goldman Sachs (GS) said in a statement that the firm continues to cooperate with all authorities investigating the matter.

A spokesperson for Low said that he maintains his innocence, and “simply asks that the public keep an open mind regarding this case”.

Low held no formal position at 1MDB and was not employed by Goldman Sachs, or the governments of Malaysia or Abu Dhabi, the spokesperson added.

The Justice Department has previously filed civil asset forfeiture suits to reclaim goods they said were bought with money stolen from the 1MDB fund.

Federal officials have claimed that laundered funds were pumped into New York condos, hotels, yachts and a jet, and used to fund Hollywood films such as “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

The agency alleges that $4.5 billion from 1MDB was misappropriated by high-level officials at the fund.

WhatsApp on Wednesday announced a tie-up with Invest India to promote Indian start-ups and said it would organise a start-up challenge in the country with the aim to invest in the top five participants of the competition.

“WhatsApp will invest quarter of a million dollars as seed funding to the top 5 winners of the WhatsApp Start-up Challenge,” an official statement said.

Also, the company would invest an additional $2,50,000 to a select few firms from the entrepreneurial community to promote their WhatsApp business number on Facebook.

Speaking on the occasion here, Union Minister of Commerce and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu said that the start-up community is the future of India and it will be the platform through which “millions of youth of this country will be gainfully employed”.

Commenting on the partnership, Deepak Bagla, CEO, Invest India – the national investment promotion and facilitation agency – said: “India adds over three new start-ups a day, ranking it amongst the top start-up nations in the world. Through this partnership with WhatsApp, we aim to support the innovative start-ups in India and to create solutions not only for India but the entire world.”

Chris Daniels, Vice President, WhatsApp said: “We are excited to work closely with Start-up India by supporting entrepreneurs and start-ups to become engines of economic growth.”

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre for pricing details of the 36 Rafale fighter jets India is buying from France in a sealed cover within 10 days but agreed that “strategic and confidential” information need not be disclosed. In its order, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, gave some more leeway to the government which has been arguing that pricing details are so sensitive that they have not even been shared with Parliament.

The Centre must bring details of the decision making process of the deal into the public domain, except those that are confidential and have strategic importance, the court said. The bench said the information must be shared by the government within 10 days and the petitioners could respond to it in the next seven days. It posted the matter for the next hearing on November 14.

“If pricing is something exclusive and you are not sharing it with us, please file an affidavit and say so,” the bench told Attorney General K K Venugopal in its oral observations. It was hearing four petitions, including one by advocate Prashant Bhushan and former ministers Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha who are seeking a court monitored CBI investigation in the procurement of the fighter jets.

Delhi Minister Kailash Gahlot on Wednesday slammed Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for not intervening in the ongoing DTC contractual workers strike despite the imposition of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

“I have been trying to speak and meet Lieutenant Governor since the last two days over the DTC strike,” the Tansport Minister tweeted.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) contractual drivers and conductors have been on a sit-in for the last 10 days, despite the ESMA being imposed, the Minister said, requesting “the LG to spare some time”.

The Najafgarh legislator said those DTC employees who have been “doing their duties” were being threatened by the “goons”.

“Most of the contractual workers want to report and do their duties but unable to do (so) because of fear created by (the) goons.

“By not taking action against the miscreants Delhi Police is encouraging the strike,” Gahlot added.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also reacted to the Minister’s tweet and said the “LG has constitutional duty to direct Delhi Police and ensure (proper) implementation of (the) ESMA”.

“Most workers want to attend work. They are being prevented by BJP goons. Police not taking action despite ESMA. LG refusing to meet.

“Why is LG not meeting the minister? Why is LG not directing police to act? BJP misusing LG yet again and harassing Delhiites?” the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief tweeted.

Terming the DTC bus services as an essential part of transport, the LG had, on Saturday, imposed the ESMA on the DTC contractual workers strike which prohibits any strike for a period of six months.

Despite the ESMA being imposed and minimum wages being restored, the DTC contractual drivers and conductors continued their strike with five of them going on an indefinite hunger strike.

Indian television channels CNBC-TV18 and ET Now cited sources as saying that Patel could quit.

The RBI and the finance ministry declined to comment.

The government has invoked never-before-used powers under the RBI Act that allow it to issue directions to the central bank governor on matters of public interest, the Economic Times newspaper reported.

It said the government had sent letters to the RBI governor in recent weeks exercising powers under section 7 of the RBI Act on issues ranging from liquidity for non-bank finance companies, capital requirements for weak banks and lending to small- and medium-sized companies.

Section 7 says that ‘the Central Government may from time to time give such directions to the Bank as it may, after consultation with the Governor of the Bank, consider necessary in the public interest’, a statute that has not been used in independent India, according to the Economic Times.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield rose to 7.87 per cent from its previous close of 7.83 per cent.

The rupee fell to 73.99 to the dollar from 73.6750 on Tuesday, after touching 74.04, its lowest since October 15.

“It is difficult to believe that the RBI governor will resign because it is unprecedented and would look quite irresponsible and (an) immature step,” said a senior trader at a foreign bank. “But it is quite worrisome to see the government trying to continuously interfere into the RBI’s operations.”

Tensions between the RBI and the government have spilled into the public domain after Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said last week that undermining central bank independence could be “potentially catastrophic”, indicating the authority is pushing back against government pressure to relax its policies and reduce its powers ahead of a general election due by May.

Adding to the row, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blamed the central bank for failing to stop a lending spree during 2008-2014 that left banks with $150 billion of bad debt.

Patel and other regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, met Jaitley and other top finance ministry officials at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council on Tuesday to discuss the liquidity crunch.

However, there was no sign of resignation by Patel at the meeting, officials said.

Patel and his deputy governors are expected to meet top finance ministry officials on Friday.

(Reuters)

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE opened on a positive note on Wednesday during the morning trade session.

It opened at 33,963.09 points, touched a high of 34,050.12 and a low of 33,912.47. It was trading at 33,970.58 points up by 79.45 points or 0.23 per cent from its Tuesday’s close at 33,891.13.

On the other hand, the broader 50-scrip Nifty at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened at 10,209.55 points after closing at 10,198.40 points on Tuesday.

The Nifty is trading at 10,218.65 points in the morning.

IANS

Mumbai with 35 operators is the leading destination for establishing a data centre, followed by Bengaluru with 27 and Delhi-NCR with 19, a report said on Tuesday.

Tech growth, Smart City initiatives and easy availability of land andinfrastructure has emerged as strong demand drivers for opening data centres in India, said the report by Los Angeles-based CBRE Group, one of the the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm.

According to CBRE South Asia Pvt Ltd, Mumbai has led the data Centre business as it is one of the global cable landing locations in the country.

Cable landing stations or submarine cables are vital international telecommunication links between countries across the world, making them an essential element in telecommunication services including broadband connectivity.

Mumbai presently has four of the 10 cable landing stations in the country.

“Overall, the data centre market outlook looks positive on the back of the availability of land and skilled talent pool along with a huge, untapped market. Moreover, a slew of policy reforms undertaken by the Indian government have generated enthusiasm among overseas investors,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman, India and South-East Asia, CBRE.

Maharashtra and Telangana are among the quickest states to tap into the growing demand for data centres by announcing several incentive schemes for the sector.

Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh too have formulated policies for the IT-ITeS segment as well as introduced a single-window clearance system to encourage investors.

Despite having immense potential to become a data centre hub in the APAC region, the report also identified several hurdles in this path.

“Several states in India are yet to formulate policies for this segment. Additionally, issues such as a cumbersome approval process for the acquisition of infrastructure and prolonged environmental clearances also need to be addressed,” said the report.

Sharpening its attack on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Congress on Tuesday accused the government of trying to destroy autonomous institutions like the Reserve Bank of India and alleged him of interfering in the work of the central bank.

“I have been surprised today by the sharp attack of the Finance Minister on the RBI and its performance. The central bank is independent and autonomous,” Congress leader Anand Sharma told reporters here.

He said that it was in the interest of India and the economy that the RBI alone remains the regulator for the banks for the lending, borrowings and fixes the rates for the banks.

“Only the RBI must have the powers to regulate the public sector banks and none else. This government has ignited a fire through its repeated interference from day one. And now government move to take charge of the monetary policy is a very ominous move,” he said.

“It (attack on RBI) cannot be accepted. It must be opposed. Government being the spending authority, cannot become the monetary authority for the country. Equally important is to remember the role of the RBI as the payment regulator cannot be diluted or taken away by a government nominated body,” the Congress leader said.

His remarks came soon after Jaitley on Tuesday held the central bank responsible for the mountain of bad loans, saying the RBI looked the other way when banks lent indiscriminately during 2008-14 to keep the economy humming.

“Under Modi and BJP, they are damaging all the independent institutions of the country which have their role in maintaining governance and administration like CBI, ED, IT, DRI, Central Universities and many others,” he said.

“I want to make one thing very clear today to Jaitley, since he specifically commented from the year 2008. Very eminent Governors of the RBI, far more competent than Jaitley or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were there. And that time also the country had the benefit of an eminent economist of unimpeachable integrity in Manmohan Singh as country PM,” he said, adding 2008 was the year when the big financial crisis enveloped the global economy.

“The RBI played a stellar role. It ringfenced the Indian economy and the big economies across the globe took note of the functioning of the RBI,” he said. Even in other big countries their central banks could not effectively ringfence their economy as the RBI did in India,” Sharma said.

Criticising Jaitley for insulting the RBI, he said, “Today Jaitley saying that the RBI is not competent, not capable, is the most unfortunate thing. I demand Jaitley to take his words back and apologise for insulting RBI.”

He said that it was not the first time that the government tried to interfere in the work of the RBI. “The first example the entire world saw was on November 8, 2016 (demonetisation) when 85 per cent currency was invalidated by the Prime Minister,” he said.

“That was the first biggest attack on RBI when it was forced in a board room to take that step,” he alleged.

The Congress leader described Modi and Jaitley as incapable leaders and said, “they have damaged the economy. They have no thinking, and they have wrong policies and wrong direction.”

Slamming the government over the depreciating value of the Rupee, Sharma said, “On the one hand they say that we have the fastest growing GDP and economy and on the other hand there is no investment in the economy, industries shutting down and no employment generation and the rupee value depreciating.

He said that the Indian rupee has lost 16 per cent since January 2018. “And the Prime Minister is busy talking about all matters which are irrelevant and not paying attention to what he and his Finance Minister have proved to be not only inefficient but thoroughly incompetent when it comes to managing of the economy, which has been nose diving.”

“What explanation they have, fastest economy there is a grave contradiction and the worst performing currency in Asia.

“Therefore we demand from this government to desist from destroying another autonomous institution, to retrace their steps and engage in dialogue and consultations rather than seeking to justify what is wrong and unjustified,” Sharma added.

IANS

HDFC Bank on Monday said the RBI had approved the re-appointment of Aditya Puri as managing director of the bank for another two years.

“Reserve Bank of India, vide its letter dated October 22, 2018, has accorded its approval to HDFC Bank Ltd. for re-appointment of Aditya Puri, as MD & CEO of the bank, from November 1, 2018 to October 26, 2020 (i.e. till the date of his attaining the age of 70 years),” the bank said in a filing to stock exchanges.

Shareholders had already approved his appointment in 2015 for five years subject to the RBI’s approval, it added.

Puri has been with HDFC Bank since 1994, making him the longest-serving head of any private bank in the country. During his tenure, he led the bank through two major mergers in the Indian banking industry — merger of Times Bank Ltd and Centurion Bank of Punjab Ltd with HDFC Bank.

PTI

The Mayors of Paris, Copenhagen, Seoul, and Medellin on Monday called for vehicle manufacturers to stop producing petrol and diesel cars as soon as possible to protect the health of children in cities around the world.

In the wake of an alarming new research released by the World Health Organization (WHO) earlier in the day, the mayors also urged every city around the world to help their youngest citizens by signing the C40 Green and Healthy Streets Declaration.

The declaration commits mayors to procure only zero-emission buses from 2025 and ensure that a major area of their city is zero emission by 2030.

“The children of Paris and cities around the world have the absolute right to breathe clean air,” Mayor of Paris and Chair of C40 Anne Hidalgo said.

“They have no power to change the environment they are growing up in, so we as responsible adults and political leaders must act on their behalf.”

“The problem of petrol and diesel vehicles polluting our streets needs to be fixed if we want to improve air quality and protect the health of our children,a said Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, and Vice-Chair of C40 Cities.

The WHO report “Air pollution and child health: Prescribing clean air” urges “strong action from decision-makers to protect the most vulnerable, voiceless citizens: children who have little or no control over the air they breathe”.

It says every day around 93 per cent of the children globally under the age of 15 years (1.8 billion children) breathe air that is so polluted it puts their health and development at serious risk. Tragically, many of them die.

To tackle the man-made crisis, mayors of the world’s big cities are already committing to the bold action required to deliver clean, safe air for all to breathe, as well as delivering on the highest goals of the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Twenty-six cities have already committed to Green and Healthy Streets. They included Paris, Copenhagen, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Quito, Vancouver, Cape Town, Seattle, Mexico City, Auckland, Milan, Rome, Warsaw, Oslo, Rotterdam, Medellin, Heidelberg and Birmingham.

More than 80,000 buses run on the streets of these 26 cities, representing a major shift towards zero emission vehicles in the world’s great cities.

IANS