The global hunt for ill-gotten gains linked to a politically connected Malaysian state investment company widened on Thursday, as Singapore vowed to take action against four banks for what it called serious lapses in their anti-money laundering controls and seized S$240 million ($177 million) in assets linked to the financial institution known as 1MDB.
The move by the Monetary Authority of Singapore is the latest twist in an evolving scandal centered on 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to bolster the Malaysian economy, that continues to reverberate across the global banking system.
