US President Donald Trump will welcome the scandal-tainted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak this week in a bid shore up ties with an Asia ally in a bid to curb North Korea’s nuclear programme, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Najib’s visit, which WSJ said would include a photo opportunity with Trump, comes as the US Department of Justice (DoJ) embarks on a criminal probe into funds allegedly diverted from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The WSJ said the investigation into the US$1.6 billion allegedly siphoned from 1MDB  threatened to “ensnare” much of Malaysia’s ruling elite, including Najib.

The report said DoJ had halted a civil suit to seize assets bought with those fund  in order to pursue a criminal probe, but that Najib was not named in the suit.

However, an unnamed source with knowledge of the investigations that WSJ spoke to said a “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1)  mentioned in the suit was Najib. Last year, a Malaysian minister also admitted that MO1 was Najib.

WSJ also cited sources as saying that “the meeting could complicate any future criminal case stemming from the allegations, if defendants in subsequent cases could use any photos of Najib meeting Trump or other senior White House officials in their defence”.

DoJ officials that WSJ spoke to said the department was not involved in planning Najib’s visit and stressed that the Malaysian prime minister had not been charged.

Other US officials said the visit would give Washington the opportunity to press Putrajaya on cracking down on North Korea’s activities in Malaysia.

Experts on North Korea said a loose regulatory environment made it easy for  Pyongyang to make Malaysia a base for “illicit transshipment, financing and foreign exchange transactions”.

A UN report also said Pyongyang had used Malaysia as a base to conduct business that evaded global sanctions that were imposed on the hermit kingdom over its nuclear weapons programme.

The UN said Malaysia still bought coal from North Korea, and that a network of companies operating in Malaysia was used to circumvent sanctions on procuring components for military use. Those firms work under Global Communications Co, a front set up by North Korean spy agency Reconnaissance General Bureau.

The UN said Malaysia rebuffed queries about North Korean activities in the country. But ties between Malaysia and North Korea are strained after the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year.

An analyst WSJ spoke to said receiving Najib at the White House came to down to “realpolitik” by Trump.

“Trump is showing a willingness and a desire to try to put on the charm for someone who is knee-deep in corruption problems, but who might be useful,” said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia for the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington.

He said he was unsure how far the strategy would work, but “Malaysia could be useful” if it wanted to be.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of the advocacy group Human Right Watch’s Asia division, said Najib’s visit reflected the Trump administration’s “morally bankrupt foreign policy in Southeast Asia”. 

“With this invitation to the White House, Trump is indicating that he doesn’t care about either the 1MDB corruption scandal or the Malaysian government’s harsh crackdown on critics who dared challenge Najib’s farcical explanations about how more than US$600 million ended up in his personal accounts,” said Robertson, referring to the US$681 million that Najib had admitted was deposited into his personal accounts, but claimed they were a donation from a Saudi Arabian royal. 

Last year, Attorney-General Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any wrongdoing over the money, and insisted that it was a donation.

Najib will be the second Southeast Asian leader to visit Trump in Washington, after Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on the US president in May.

Najib said he had golfed with Trump at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, several years ago.

Najib also met former president Barack Obama for golf in Hawaii in 2014, and a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in California in 2016. – September 11, 2017.