The complaints, filed in Los Angeles, allege a complex money laundering scheme that the Justice Department says was meant to enrich top-level officials of the government-controlled wealth fund.
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In a development which could rock the Malaysian political scene, court filings made thinly veiled references to Malaysian premier Najib Razak himself in the case, as the U.S. alleged that billions of dollars were siphoned off by Najib’s stepson, a family friend and other officials.
On Thursday, authorities in Singapore announced they had seized 240 million Singapore dollars ($177 million) in assets after conducting their own investigation into 1MDB.
Authorities in several countries allege that funds passed through a complicated web of financial transactions to ultimately end up with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and close associates. About half of that belonged to the financier Jho Low and his immediate family, according to the statement from Singapore.
The money was allegedly laundered through “complex transactions and fraudulent shell companies” with bank accounts located in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S.
Commercially successful and critically acclaimed “Wolf of Wall Street” is among the many assets cited in the Justice Department’s court filings. It was then used to bankroll decadent purchases, ranging from luxury apartments to fine art. Prosecutors claim, as several media outlets have reported in the past, that the 2013 blockbuster film The Wolf of Wall Street, which was co-produced by Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, was bankrolled by the stolen 1MDB funds.
Attorney-General Apandi Ali pointed out that his USA counterpart did not name Najib as a defendant in the civil suits filed in California on Wednesday or allege any criminal wrongdoing against the PM.
“My dearest Shahrizat, the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) court forfeiture cause papers have nothing whatsoever to do with foreigners meddling in our beloved nation’s internal affairs”.
1MDB, or 1Malaysia Development Berhad, was launched by Najib in 2009 to invest in economic development projects. He oversaw its activities in his concurrent role as finance minister.
His press secretary earlier stressed the Malaysian authorities “have led the way” in investigating 1MDB and investigations “found that no crime was committed”.
His spokesman stressed Thursday that Malaysian authorities had previously found no wrongdoing, while pledging to cooperate with any worldwide inquiries.
The US lawsuits refer to a “Malaysian Official 1” who is described as a high-ranking government official who received some of the misappropriated funds, including $681m in March 2013.
For example, USA investigators said $681 million of 1MDB money was illicitly transferred to an account controlled by “Malaysian Official 1”.
Mr Najib has maintained that the money was a political donation from the Saudi royal family.
– Close to US$14 million had also been allegedly wired to Najib’s account from a smaller subsidiary of 1MDB.
“We will mobilise people as necessary if we made a decision to go ahead with it”, he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.
Najib stressed that the suits filed by the DOJ were civil in nature, and not criminal.
There are also several multi-million dollar condos in New York City, including a penthouse at the Time Warner Center (which is also the New York home of CNN.) Plus, there’s an investment stake in the Park Lane Hotel off Central Park worth almost $250 million.
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“We had no visibility into whether some of those funds may have been subsequently diverted to other purposes”, said Michael DuVally, a company representative.
