PAKATAN harapan leaders (PH) today called for the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the latest Department of Justice (DoJ) civil suit to seize assets allegedly bought with stolen 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds.

PH leaders submitted a memorandum at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya today, saying that the magnitude of corruption allegations levelled against 1MDB by the DoJ compelled the anti-graft agency to launch its own probe.

“As we are all aware, the DoJ have sued several individuals to seize assets believed to have been acquired with money laundered from 1MDB,” said PH president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail in a statement today.

“DoJ says this is one of the largest kleptocracy cases in the history of the United States of America, which also involves allegations of corruption, abuse of power and breach of trust by the administration and government of (Prime Minister) Najib Razak.”

MACC deputy commissioner of operations Azam Baki later said the commission will look into the details of the memorandum before taking any action.

“They (PH leaders) came to the office today, (but) I don’t know what are the details of the memorandum.

“What is important is the details in the memorandum. Let us look through it first,” Azam said.

The DoJ has filed three civil suits in the 1MDB scandal, bringing to total the amount allegedly misappropriated by top 1MDB associates and leaders to more than US$4.5 billion (RM19.3 billion).

In the latest suit filed in June, Penang-born tycoon Jho Low is accused of using 1MDB-linked money to buy properties that the DoJ wants to seize.

The Malaysian government has said the latest suit were “unproven allegations”. – August 8, 2017.