Malaysia ‘won’t protect citizens’ from offshore offences
The Malaysian government won’t protect its citizens from legal action taken outside the country stemming from the scandal surrounding the state investment fund 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, a senior official said this week.
Johari Abdul Ghani, who is second in command in the Finance Ministry under Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also Finance Minister, said the 1MDB scandal served as a “very expensive lesson’’ for the Southeast Asian country.
“As far as the government of Malaysia is concerned, any individuals that basically have committed any offence in any countries outside Malaysia, the Malaysian government will not protect them,” Mr Johari said.
“We want them to face the due legal process. That is the commitment of the government.”
Mr Johari was speaking a week after the US Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit seeking to seize assets that it said were bought with $US3.5 billion misappropriated from the 1MDB fund, which was set up by Mr Najib in 2009 to promote economic growth. The Finance Ministry owns 1MDB.
Separately, 1MDB announced that its 2013 and 2014 audited fin¬ancial statements “should no longer be relied on by any party, pending final and conclusive determination by a court of law of certain … alleged facts” in the US complaint.
The Justice Department complaint described how money seemingly placed in several investments and deposits by 1MDB was actually sent on to several people involved with the fund through a maze of offshore companies and accounts.
The civil lawsuit named Riza Aziz, Mr Najib’s stepson, as a “relevant individual”, along with ¬Malaysian financier Jho Low.
Mr Aziz wasn’t immediately available for comment. Red Granite Pictures, a film company partly owned by Mr Aziz, said it was co-operating fully with all inquiries and that it and Mr Aziz had done “nothing wrong”. A representative for Mr Low declined to comment, but he has previously denied wrongdoing.
1MDB said its “board remains confident that no wrongdoing has been committed by 1MDB and that the past audited financial statements continue to show a true and fair view of the company’s affairs at the relevant points in time”. The suggestion not to rely on past financial statements was a “precautionary measure”, it said.
Among the Justice Department’s assertions were that some $US1bn originating with 1MDB was ploughed into hotels, luxury real estate in Manhattan, Beverly Hills and London, fine art, a private jet, and the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.
