BaFin is investigating against the "Deutsche Bank" because of suspected money-laundering

The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) in Frankfurt is trying to find out if the "Deutsche Bank" is involved in dubious dealings with the tropical timber mafia in Malaysia. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), the Swiss Bruno Manser Fund and the environmental organization "Save the Rain Forest" had previously asked Chancellor Angela Merkel to have the money-laundering accusations checked. "We welcome the fact that BaFin is now taking action - " because, despite repeated written requests by the STP, the "Deutsche Bank" was not prepared to comment on the allegations", said the STP's expert on questions regarding Asia, Ulrich Delius, on Monday. "The suspicions emerging in Malaysia are so serious that they may not longer remain unaccounted for."

The "Deutsche Bank" is accused of processing transactions worth several hundred million euros for the government of the Malaysian Federal State of Sarawak under Abdul Taib Mahmud since 2004 and of setting up a joint venture with the construction company Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), which is controlled by the Taib family. CMS's profits are mainly dependent on contracts with the Taib-government that are usually settled without public announcement. CMS was also involved in the 2.6 billion US-dollar project of building the Bakun Dam in Sarawak. When the mega-project dam was initially flooded in October 2010, more than 9.000 native residents were resettled. Holding 16.55 percent, the "Deutsche Bank" is one of the main shareholders of the Kuala Lumpur based financial services provider K & N Kenanga Holdings Berhad (KNKH). Their subsidiary "Kenanga Deutsche Futures" operates on the Malaysian stock market.

Taib is Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Minister for Natural Resources in Sarawak. Through malpractice and corruption, he has accumulated a fortune of several billion US-dollars during the last 30 years. In June 2011, the Malaysian anti-corruption agency MACC announced corruption-investigations against the head of government. Even the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) initiated proceedings to determine whether Taib made any investments in Switzerland. The politician is considered to be mainly responsible for the systematic destruction of tropical forests in the west of the island of Borneo. Until the beginning of the 1980's, Sarawak was one of the worlds largest "green lungs". Tens of thousands of natives have lost their basis of existence trough deforestation and dam-projects funded by Taib.