The billion-dollar corruption scandal left the former Prime Minister of Malaysia reeling 0
(Dan Tri) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak today, May 22, appeared before the investigation agency on suspicions related to the 4.5 billion USD corruption scandal from the national fund.
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (Photo: Express)
The scandal was exposed
The 1MDB fund was established shortly after Mr. Najib became Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2009. During the following 7 years, Mr. Najib was Chairman of the 1MDB Fund Advisory Board and controlled all investment decisions.
The 1MDB national investment fund corruption scandal was exposed and attracted the attention of international public opinion 3 years ago.
The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2, 2015 that Malaysian investigators are tracking nearly 700 million USD transferred into personal accounts believed to belong to Mr. Najib.
Immediately after this news, Mr. Najib faced increasing pressure to resign from the public.
Less than a month since the scandal was exposed, two ministers in his cabinet were dismissed – a move that Malaysian public opinion believed was that Mr. Najib was trying to `silence` those who criticized him.
In addition to the above two officials, Mr. Najib also dismissed then-Minister of Justice Abdul Gani Patail, who was the head of a special working group consisting of officials from the Central Bank of Malaysia, the police and anti-corruption agencies.
Shady transactions
US officials believe that violations related to 1MDB occurred in different stages and involved many different people.
The violations related to 1MDB are said to have begun the year the fund was established.
In September 2009, 1MDB signed a $2.5 billion association contract with a private Saudi oil company called PetroSaudi International (PSI).
However, according to the US Department of Justice, $700 million of 1MDB’s $1 billion contribution was transferred to a bank account in Switzerland called Good Star Limited by Jho Low – a close friend of Mr. Najib’s son.
US investigators found that, between 2009 and 2011, more than $1 billion from 1MDB was secretly transferred to Good Star Limited.
The statement added that in 2011, about 330 million USD continued to be transferred to Good Star’s account `nominally related to a financial agreement` between 1MDB and the 1MDB-PetroSaudi joint venture.
“Malaysia’s No. 1 Official”
US officials believe that the embezzlement activities from the 1MDB fund took place in different stages and involved many different people, including the figure mentioned by the US as `Malaysia’s No. 1 Official`.
Malaysia’s No. 1 official is described as `a senior official in the Malaysian government who also holds the leadership position of 1MDB, who approves all financial activities of 1MDB.
The matter temporarily calmed down until January 2016, when Malaysia’s new Attorney General Apandi said that the results of the investigation into the scandal related to 1MDB confirmed that the amount of nearly 700 million USD transferred to Mr. Najib’s private account was
Mr. Najib then welcomed this conclusion of the Ministry of Justice and said that this was a `comprehensive` investigation.
Turn over the investigation
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Photo: Pakistan Today)
Controversies related to budget embezzlement from 1MDB were the main reason why Mr. Najib lost the election earlier this month.
His administration has established a special working group consisting of senior officials in Mr. Najib’s administration who were dismissed in the period from 2015-2016.
Just a few days after Mr. Mahathir took office, Malaysian police searched Mr. Najib’s home and office.
Minh Phuong
According to CNA, Straits Times
