BRIBES of up to RM3 million and later, hired thugs from a neighbouring country, were allegedly employed to persuade Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers to stop  investigations into scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad in 2015, the Straits Times reports today.

The ST, quoting two sources, said the bribes and threats came from a Barisan Nasional MP who was personally chosen to negotiate with investigators to drop the probe.

In his first press conference since his return to MACC, chief commissioner Mohd Shukri Abdull spoke about a “MP from the north” who had approached him twice to drop investigations into 1MDB.

Shukri had said the MP, whose catchphrase “Cash is king” is well known, backed off after his second attempt when he was warned that action would be taken against him if he persisted.

On Tuesday, just after the MACC chief’s press conference, the authorities raided the offices and residences of Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim in Kedah and in the Klang Valley.

Malaysia Decides is trying to ascertain if he was the MP Shukri was alluding to.

“The MP personally brought a bag full of cash and offered it to my boss. But in exchange, my superior would have to abandon the case,” a source told ST.

“After all efforts to get him to accept the offer were declined, my boss was removed. The intense harassment and death threats began instantly.”

Another source told ST the same MP had advised the investigators to accept the bribe and live a lavish lifestyle abroad, with monthly allowances and free lodging for their entire family.

When the investigators refused, the MP allegedly hired “a group of gangsters from a neighbouring country to intimidate” the families of the officers.

Shukri was brought back to the MACC by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to continue investigations into 1MDB.

MACC investigators are currently questioning former prime minister Najib Razak about allegedly receiving RM42 million of 1MDB funds channeled through SRC International to his personal accounts between December 2014 and February 2015. – May 24, 2018.