NAJIB Razak will be the first to be questioned by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, but he will not be the last, sources familiar with the case said.

Investigators believe the theft of billions from the state firm over a period of five years was masterminded by former prime minister Najib’s associate and financier Low Taek Jho and a coterie of accomplices.

These include former 1MDB chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Helmi, its executive director, Casey Tang, and general counsel Jasmine Loo.

Also high on the wanted list are Tan Kim Loong, or Eric Tan, an associate of Low, as well as former officials of an Abu Dhabi state firm, Khadem Abdulla al-Qubaisi and Aabar Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.

Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, a part-owner of US film company Red Granite Pictures, is also a person of interest for allegedly receiving US$238 million (RM947 million) in stolen 1MDB funds.

Tony Pua, a member of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which investigated 1MDB, said these personalities should be hauled up for their roles in the scandal.

These seven individuals were implicated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and graft watchdog Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) as individuals who assisted Low in siphoning off billions of ringgit from 1MDB.

These individuals, many of whom are overseas, will likely be in the crosshairs of Malaysian authorities as the country seeks to recover the stolen funds.

The US DoJ said that US$4.5 billion was siphoned off from 1MDB through a complex web of financial transactions that span six countries.

The C4 study found that 1MDB lost an estimated RM39 billion through fraud and mismanagement.

Putrajaya recently set up two committees to look into the 1MDB scandal.

One committee comprises former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman, PwC Risk Assurance Services partner Nik Shahrizal Sulaiman, Naqiz & Partners senior partner Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin Syed Abdul Jabbar, Indonesian Financial Services Authority senior adviser Faris Rabidin and C4’s Cynthia Gabriel.

Yesterday, Putrajaya announced another special task force headed by another former attorney-general, Abdul Gani Patail, along with MACC chief commissioner Shukri Abdull, former MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed and former Special Branch deputy director Abdul Hamid Bador.

It is learnt that Abu Talib’s committee will look into ways to repatriate the lost funds which were used to buy luxury assets in the United States.

Gani’s committee, meanwhile, will focus on bringing those responsible to book.

Both committees are now expected to exchange notes with the DoJ, whose investigations revealed that the fraudulent transfers of 1MDB funds occurred under three phases – PetroSaudi-Good Star, Aabar-BVI and Tanore.

Shahrol, Tang and Loo were former 1MDB employees who were allegedly involved in the PetroSaudi-Goodstar phase, where US$1.03 billion was transferred from 1MDB to a Swiss bank account controlled by Good Star Limited, a firm owned Low.

The PAC probe into 1MDB also recommended that Shahrol be investigated.

Khadeem and Badawy meanwhile, were principal figures in the Aabar-BVI phase, when about US$1.367 billion was siphoned off from 1MDB to a British Virgin Islands entity called Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar-BVI).

Aabar-BVI was made to look similar to Aabar Investments PJS Limited, the legitimate subsidiary of the International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC), a state firm owned by the United Arab Emirates.

Khadeem and Badawy were both officials in Aabar Investments PJS Limited.

Funds from Aabar-BVI were then transferred to a Singapore bank account controlled by Tan.

Aabar-BVI also transferred US$238 million to a Singapore bank account at BSI Singapore belonging to Red Granite Capital.

Political economist Prof Edmund Terence Gomez also recommended that investigations be carried out against 1MDB’s directors, Lodin Wok Kamaruddin and Ismee Ismail.

The two were also culpable in the firm’s mammoth losses. – May 22, 2018.