THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has unfrozen two bank accounts belonging to former 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) president and CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Isa Mohamed told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that the accounts can be unfrozen as there will be no prosecution connected with the Central Depository System (CDS) accounts held at Maybank.

Justice Mohd Zaini Mazlan then told Arul Kanda to withdraw his application, filed on Monday, to lift the freeze.

“The accounts were frozen since July 12, last year. It has been a year and nothing was done… so, we wrote to the MACC to unfreeze the accounts,” Arul Kanda’s lawyer, N. Sivananthan, told reporters after today’s proceedings.

The lawyer said the accounts had nothing to do with Arul Kanda’s criminal charge for allegedly tampering with the 1MDB audit report. He will face trial for that charge in November. 

MACC had frozen seven bank accounts of Arul Kanda’s last year, in addition to the two CDS accounts, which held shares of Bursa-listed firms.

“Many accounts were frozen, to be fair. You will notice that they commenced forfeiture action against many individuals.” said Sivanathan.

The freezing last year was carried out under Section 44 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (Amla) 2001. 

A month after the May 9 polls, MACC froze about 900 accounts linked to entities or individuals who were alleged to have benefited from 1MDB-linked funds.

Umno’s accounts, as well as of its leaders, including president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, were frozen. 

In June this year, MACC filed a civil forfeiture against 41 recipients and entities to recover RM270 million related to 1MDB. 

Arul Kanda was charged on December 12, last year with abetting Najib, who was also the finance minister overseeing 1MDB at that time.

Najib was charged the same day with abusing his power to gain protection from disciplinary action in order to amend the final audit report that was presented to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.

The offence was allegedly committed between February 22 and 26, 2016, at the Prime Minister’s Department in Putrajaya.

Auditor-General Madinah Mohamad, in a statement issued in November, last year, said the 1MDB final audit report was modified upon Najib’s orders.

Madinah said two key points were removed from the report, which were the presence of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, in a 1MDB board meeting and the state investor’s financial status.

Arul Kanda’s joint trial with Najib has been fixed from November 18 to 29, and January 13 to 17 next year, to be presided by Zaini. 

Najib faces 42 criminal charges related to 1MDB.

He is currently on trial for seven criminal charges for receiving RM42 million in 2014 and 2015 from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB. – August 21, 2019.