A report claims that two years ago Hong Kong turned down requests to arrest the man accused of masterminding the 1MDB dirty money scandal.

Hong Kong authorities refused to arrest the alleged mastermind of a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal centred on Malaysian state-backed fund 1MDB, a report said of a saga that has become global.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Singapore police as saying that they asked Hong Kong in 2016 to arrest Jho Low. The statement from the Singapore police did not reportedly say why the Asian jurisdiction thought that Low was in Hong Kong at the time, or explain why its request was rejected. The report noted that such a statement is unusual in being so blunt about a lack of co-operation over a major international issue.

Singaporean authorities, along with those in Switzerland, the US and Luxembourg, have opened probes into money laundering and fraud claims linked to 1MDB. Investigatory efforts in Malaysia also intensified since 9 May after the shock election defeat of the previous government. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been arrested and charged in connection with the 1MDB scandal at a Kuala Lumpur court and released on bail. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

The WSJ report said Hong Kong’s Department of Justice and police declined to comment. Low has also denied wrongdoing.

Singapore has acted against a number of banks linked to the affair. BSI and Falcon Private Bank were ordered in May 2016 to cease operating in Singapore after findings of serious lapses in their AML controls. 

Earlier this week, Switzerland set out details on the scope of its own probe into certain transactions.