Investigative Journalist Who Exposed 1MDB says “We’re Seeing a Swing of the Pendulum” on Worldwide Corruption

“I think this whole offshore financial structure that’s been allowed to grow like a canker … the whole thing’s got out of control,” said investigative journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown in an interview with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). 

“I think this whole offshore financial structure that’s been allowed to grow like a canker … the whole thing’s got out of control,” said investigative journalist Clare Rewcastle Brown in an interview with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Brown founded media outlets the Sarawak Report and Radio Free Sarawak in 2010 and has helped bring the 1MDB scandal to the attention of media and regulatory bodies worldwide. “I think we’re seeing a swing of the pendulum and I think 1MDB’s just kind of cropped up perhaps at the right place at the right time … governments across the world have started to realize that they’ve lost control and populations have lost patience.” 

Brown will address anti-fraud professionals from the Asia-Pacific region at the 2016 ACFE Fraud Conference Asia-Pacific at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore,  November 20-22. Despite having an arrest warrant issued for her by a Malaysian court, Brown remains optimistic that corruption on a global scale can be defeated. She said, “I do think we’re seeing a lash back and 1MDB is going to be just one example of enforcement agencies hitting back.” 

She will be joined by keynote speakers Brian Hay, former detective superintendent of the Queensland Police and general manager of Security Dimension Data, and Cliff Lansley, director of 21st Century Learning & Consulting, LLC, among others. 

Concurrent sessions will include discussions about cross-border fraud investigations in greater China, cyberattacks, and the challenges whistleblowers face and how to protect them. The conference will also feature the release of the Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse: 2016 Asia-Pacific Edition. 

According to the ACFE’s 2016 Report to the Nations, companies worldwide lose an estimated 5  of their revenues to fraud. In the Asia-Pacific region, the median cost of each fraud per instance is USD 245,000. More than half of the fraud cases reported resulted from corruption schemes and fraud cases that occurred in a governmental organization cost an average of USD 500,000. 

Contact the ACFE 
For more information, email PR@ACFE.com.