COMMENT In the movie ‘The International’, an operative of Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation), Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and US district attorney, Louis Salinger (Naomi Watts) investigated corruption in a fictional merchant bank, IBBC, which serviced organised crime and corrupt governments.

The 2009 movie was inspired by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal of the 1980s when investigators from several countries and international agencies discovered that the London-headquartered and Luxembourg-incorporated bank was involved in massive money laundering and financial crimes, and illegally gained controlling interest in a major American bank.

But even before the movie was made and the real life BCCI collapsed, we had our own equally sensational banking scandal - the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF). We could yet face a similar scandal in the shape of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)...