Civil lawsuits filed in federal court on Wednesday did not name Malaysian premier Najib Razak, referring instead to “Malaysian Official 1”.
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About 1.3 billion dollars (£980 million) raised through purportedly legitimate bond offerings was swiftly transferred to a Swiss bank account and then distributed to fund officials for their personal benefit.
The Times said the US government would seize assets worth more than $1 billion that it believes was stolen from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
The lawsuits also named Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as “Jho Low”, and Abu Dhabi government officials Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
Swiss authorities have seized three paintings by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh following a USA request as part of a probe into the scandal surrounding the Malaysian wealth fund 1MDB.
The government has given its assurance that it would open its doors to any investigation related to the controversial state-owned firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), including those initiated by worldwide agencies.
Malaysia’s attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali, however, expressed “strong concerns at the insinuations and allegations” of wrongdoing against Mr Najib in the lawsuits. He said his government will “fully cooperate” with USA authorities.
1MDB and the Malaysian prime minister’s office had no immediate comment.
Singapore authorities today (July 21) revealed it had seized S$240 million in assets through its probe into alleged fraud and money-laundering related to 1MDB. Authorities say 1MDB’s money was also spent on gambling and used to make the “Wolf of Wall Street”, a film about a high-living swindler starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The art works are alleged to have been bought with 1MDB money, with at least some of them ending up behind a Geneva freeport.
“I am not Malaysian Official 1”, he says in the clip.
Razak is the step-father of Riza Aziz, the co-founder of Red Granite Pictures, which came up with the more than US$100 million needed to finance the film.
The ringgit fell 0.5 per cent on Friday (July 22), and 2.8 per cent this week, to 4.0608 per U.S. dollar as of 10.34am in Kuala Lumpur, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg.
Singapore’s Attorney General announced that assets worth over $175 million had been seized.
Ms Lynch said: “A number of corrupt 1MDB officials treated this public trust as a personal bank account”.
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The US action is a blow to Mr Najib but analysts said he remained politically secure after moving previous year to strengthen his grip on power by replacing critics in his government and party with men loyal to him.
