The U.S. civil lawsuits are seeking to seize $1 billion in assets they said were tied to money stolen from the fund, which was founded by Najib. According to U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch, billions of dollars were skimmed and misappropriated from the fund to support the lavish lifestyles of corrupt officials, including the purchase of luxury properties in the USA and Europe, artworks by Monet and Van Gogh, and funding Hollywood film projects such as 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street.
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Lynch said the funds taken from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a sovereign wealth fund that was controlled by Najib in his concurrent role as finance minister, had been meant to help develop the Malaysian economy.
Investigators allege more than $3.5 billion was taken from 1MDB between 2009 and 2013 and shell companies were used to move the money around. Some of the allegations against this official are the same as those in a Malaysian investigation over a $681 million transfer to his personal bank account.
United States attorney general, Loretta Lynch said stolen money was used to contribute to the funding of Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated The Wold of Wall Street, and to buy artwork worth more than $200m, including works by Van Gogh and Monet. “And we will not allow it to be a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest in stolen riches”.
When real estate, companies, art work, or really anything is bought with stolen money, the USA government can legally seize it, which is exactly what it’s doing.
A spokesperson for Najib said the government would “fully co-operate with any lawful investigation in accordance with global protocols”.
“As Najib has always maintained, if any wrongdoing is proven, the law will be enforced without exception”.
The lawsuits were submitted by the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which deals specifically with the seizure of proceeds obtained from foreign corruption.
The Justice Department says the funds that were laundered into the US were used for various assets, including real estate and hotel properties, a jet aircraft, fancy artwork and production of the Oscar-nominated movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
He was commenting on the statement by US Attorney General Loretta Lynch yesterday that a number of individuals were found to have been abusing 1MDB funds to siphon off some money into their personal bank accounts.
Malaysia has been gripped for more than a year by allegations that billions of dollars were looted from state investment fund 1MDB in an audacious campaign of fraud and money laundering.
“This is the unprincipled politics practised by the opposition”, she said in a statement today.
The complaints identify by name several people closed to Najib that the government alleges profited from the scheme. Riza Aziz, Najib’s stepson and founder of Red Granite Pictures, which produced the movie, was named in the lawsuit.
According to the complaint, 11 wire transfers totalling 64 million dollars (£48 million) were used to fund the studio’s operations, including production of 2013 movie The Wolf Of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
These figures include Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, Jho Low, other officials, and an individual the USA filing calls “Malaysian Official 1” – a thinly-veiled apparent reference to Najib himself.
But the Justice Department described Riza as a relative of an unnamed “Malaysian Official 1” – a high-ranking Malaysian government official with authority to approve all appointments and removals from 1MDB’s board of directors and whose approval was needed for the fund’s financial commitments.
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The U.S. action is a blow to Najib but analysts said he remained politically secure after moving a year ago to strengthen his grip on power by replacing critics in his government and party with men loyal to him. He said the government must open up investigations into the fund and uncover the identity of the Malaysian senior official behind the money laundering.
