The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a five-year prohibition order (PO) against Muhammad Hafiz Bin Ismail, a former representative of DBS Bank (DBS).
The PO was issued following Muhammad’s conviction for intentionally obstructing the course of justice by the State Courts, and separate contraventions of the Financial Advisers Act (FAA) and the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
In January 2018, his uncle had been arrested for theft-related offences., To prevent the police from locating a safe belonging to his uncle, Muhammad directed his colleague to move the safe from his business premises.
For his actions, Muhammad was convicted on May 25 2022 of one count of abetting an offence of intentionally obstructing the course of justice, and he was sentenced to a week’s imprisonment.
In addition, on September 8 2020, while under investigation by the police for the above-mentioned offence, Muhmmad applied to be a wealth planning manager with DBS but failed to state in his fit and proper declaration to DBS that he was under investigation.
DBS then relied on his response in the declaration to certify to MAS that he was fit and proper to be a representative of the bank. By wilfully omitting the information in his declaration, Muhammad was further convicted under the SFA.
According to the MAS, while Muhammad no longer works in the industry, the PO was issued to safeguard the integrity of and trust in Singapore’s financial sector.
Specifically, under the PO, which takes effect from May 20, Muhammad is prohibited from providing any financial advisory service, and from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder, of any financial advisory firm under the FAA.
He is also prohibited from performing any regulated activity and from taking part in the management, acting as a director, or becoming a substantial shareholder, of any capital markets services firm under the SFA.
