Zeti: I'll sue those spreading rumours

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz (pic) has warned she will seek out and sue those spreading rumours about her and Bank Negara Malaysia over issues surrounding 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"There is no truth to these allegations against me personally and the bank, said the Bank Negara Governor.

"Many of these allegations are made by anonymous people. We will seek out to identify who they are and take further legal action on them.

"Right now we do not know who they are. We have some ideas, follow-up leads as to who they are, but they have been anonymous so far," she told the press at a briefing at the Bank Negara headquarters Thursday.

When asked about the US$700mil that was deposited into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib's personal account, Zeti said she could only speak within the confines of the law.

"Otherwise the moment I step out of this door, I will face arrest for talking about individuals' accounts. I am sure you do not want that to happen," she joked.

Asked about Bank Negara's position on such a large amount being deposited into an individual's account, she said; "the financial institution is supposed to conduct due diligence, and if everything is in order, they will not inform us.

"If they find something suspicious, they will have to submit a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) to Bank Negara and we will then be aware of it," she said.

When asked if there was such a report, she said; "We are investigating the compliance of the financial institution to this requirement and this is all I can say about it at the moment".

Zeti also said police had questioned Bank Negara seven officers, but she had not been questioned as she just returned home from the United States.

When asked to specify the nature of the investigation, she said; "it is on the purported leakage of information, and it was (carried out) by the police. Bank Negara will always co-operate with law enforcement agencies".