Meanwhile former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysians should push for a referendum on Najib’s leadership as he launched a new opposition front made up of ruling party rebels and members of the opposition.
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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said yesterday the government viewed seriously the civil suits filed by the United States Department of Justice with regard to 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
The lawsuit does not name Najib but refers to a “Malaysian Official 1” – described as a high-ranking government official – who received some of the misappropriated funds, including $681 million in March 2013.
January 2016: Despite continuing allegations that 1MDB is being used by Mr Najib as a personal and political slush fund, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali announces that a sum of $US681 million which reportedly flowed to Mr Najib’s account through an anonymous British Virgin Islands company and a Swiss private account owned by an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund was a “personal donation” from the Saudi royal family.
The Justice Department said on Wednesday that the assets were “associated with an global conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated” from 1MDB, and included lavish real estate in Beverly Hills and NY, artwork by Monet and Van Gogh, and a business jet.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak faces pressure internationally and at home amid U.S. allegations of massive fraud at state investment fund 1MDB.
The Justice Department says the forfeiture demand is the largest single action it’s taken under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which seeks to recover foreign bribery proceeds and embezzled funds.
Among the assets the USA seeks to seize are paintings by Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh, and a $35 million Bombardier jet.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Thursday that it found “lapses and weaknesses” in anti-money-laundering controls at the banks’ Singapore operations and that it would be taking actions against them.
The Pagoh MP also criticised Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak over his reaction to the civil suit.
The court papers, filed in Los Angeles, allege that misappropriated 1MDB money was laundered through accounts in the US.
– Tens of millions of the diverted dollars were used in 2012 by Najib’s stepson Riza, an aspiring film producer, to fund “The Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s position as prime minister is secure despite the actions taken by the USA and Singapore to seize assets related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said today.
The Singapore authorities also said investigations found Singapore-based DBS Bank, Standard Chartered Bank’s Singapore Branch and Swiss-based UBS had exhibited “undue delay in detecting and reporting suspicious transactions”.
Najib said he viewed the U.S. action seriously but pointed out that it was limited to the individuals named in the complaints.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the “Malaysian people were defrauded on a monumental scale”.
Representatives of 1MDB said in a statement that it would cooperate.
The worth of the assets the US Department of Justice wants to seize, believed to be pilfered from 1MDB funds.
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The Malaysian attorney-general also rushed to defend Najib. It added that the company is confident that “Riza Aziz and Red Granite did nothing wrong”.
