ENFORCEMENT agencies should refrain from public statements on the status of the 1MDB investigations lest they prejudice investigations and court proceedings, said 1MDB committee chief Abu Talib Othman.

“My personal view is that the less public statements are made, the better, because they may prejudice investigations and any court proceedings, should there be any,” he told reporters at Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur today.

“There should be less talk and more work. That’s my view,” he said when asked to comment on an emotional press conference by newly appointed Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Mohd Shukri Abdull yesterday.

At that press conference, Shukri had spoken of the trials and tribulations MACC officers faced in pursuing their 1MDB investigations, and had teared up when he recounted receiving a bullet in the mail. 

Abu Talib, who was the attorney-general under Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration in the 1980s, said the committee discussed its role in the 1MDB investigations today.

“We discussed how we should coordinate each other’s functions. That’s what we are tasked with – to coordinate the functions of the relevant agencies to avoid overlapping and confusion,” he said.

The committee on 1MDB was formed last Thursday by the Council of Eminent Persons.

It is tasked with coordinating cross-sector investigations to “ensure fair and just application of the law and to advise the council accordingly”, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement yesterday.

The committee is supported by the newly formed special investigation team, which reports directly to the committee. The team is jointly led by former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Mohd Shukri Abdull, former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed, and Special Branch director Abdul Hamid Bador.

The team will investigate criminal suspects under the MACC Act, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and the Penal Code. It is also tasked to recover assets and money from illicit activities related to the sovereign wealth fund. – May 23, 2018.