The alleged offences were committed over a four-year period and involved multiple individuals, including Malaysian officials and their associates, who conspired to fraudulently divert billions of dollars from 1MDB, the lawsuits said.
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“They are conducting (the investigation) based on what their country’s laws require them to do”, he said when met after officiating the Pacific Asian Communication Association 2016 conference at Universiti Putra Malaysia today.
Malaysia’s hyperactive social media users on Thursday hammered Najib as a thief and a liar, and #MalaysianOfficial1 became the country’s top-trending Twitter hashtag.
His spokesman said the government would “fully co-operate with any lawful investigation of Malaysian companies or citizens”.
Najib has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The story about the US lawsuits made headlines around the world, but not in Malaysia, where major local newspapers, controlled directly or indirectly by the government, and the state news agency largely ignored it on Thursday.
Singapore followed up by revealing it had seized Sg$240 million ($177 million) worth of bank funds and other assets over suspected fraud and money-laundering related to 1MDB.
In defending Najib, Salleh said: “1MDB has been the subject of unprecedented politically-motivated attacks, the objectives of which were to unseat a democratically-elected head of government [Najib Razak]”.
It added that half those assets were linked to Low Taek Jho, a Malaysian businessman close to Najib’s family.
In a separate statement, 1MDB said it was not a party to the civil suit, did not have any assets in the United States and had not benefited from the transactions described in the civil suit.
The Justice Department is also seizing other assets, including a painting by a Vincent van Goh, and various other assets.
The Justice Department said it was the largest forfeiture demand under an initiative that seeks to recover foreign bribery proceeds and embezzled funds.
“Neither 1MDB nor the Malaysian people saw a penny of profit from that film nor from the other assets purchased with funds siphoned from 1MDB”, Caldwell said. FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday night.
The people named in the complaint have not been charged with crimes – the defendants in the civil lawsuits are the properties the government wants to seize.
He also insisted that the donation made to Najib was a separate matter, claiming that following “comprehensive investigations by many authorities”, it has been confirmed that the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia had made the donation.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to weather claims from USA prosecutors that billions of dollars were stolen from a state investment fund he founded and oversaw.
The opposition leader in Parliament, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, said Najib must give a full explanation in Parliament and go on leave to ensure a full and transparent probe. The money came through bond offerings underwritten by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wednesday’s court filing stated. She is the chief prosecutor in central California. He also replaced anti-corruption officials involved with the investigation.
“Approximately $137 million of the pilfered money was spent to purchase works of art, including a $35 million work by Claude Monet”, Decker said.
IPIC guaranteed one bond directly and another one indirectly. “There is no Malaysian money”, he told the New York Times when questions were raised about the issue in 2014.
However, the case named Riza Aziz, his step-son, as a “relevant individual” in the case.
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The funds were also allegedly used to invest in EMI Music and to fund the production of 2013 Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street, whose co-producer Riza Aziz is a stepson of Razak.
