WHILE the Malaysian government maintains that no money was lost in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, the US attorney-general says it has “restrained” some US$3.5 billion (RM14.1 billion) worth of assets from the national investment fund started by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

“For example, nearly half of the US$3.5 billion in corruption proceeds we have restrained is related to just one enforcement action.

“That action was related to Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB. 1MDB was created by the Malaysian government to promote long-term economic development for the benefit of the Malaysian people,” said US attorney-general Jeff Sessions at the Global Forum on Asset Recovery yesterday in the United States.

Sessions dubbed the 1MDB scandal as “kleptocracy at its worst” and said more than US$4.5 billion in funds has been laundered via a complex web of transactions from shell companies ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States.

“But allegedly corrupt officials and their associates reportedly used the funds for a lavish spending spree: US$200 million for real estate in Southern California and New York; US$130 million in artworks; and US$100 million in an American music label, not to mention a US$265 million yacht.

“Today, the US Department of Justice is working to provide justice to the victims of this alleged scheme,” he said.

Sessions said that without the cooperation of foreign law enforcement partners, the US couldn’t have returned millions in corruption proceeds to compensate victims.

“That includes approximately US$119 million to the people of Italy, US$115 million to the people of Kazakhstan, more than US$20 million to the people of Peru, and millions more to the people of Nicaragua, South Korea and Taiwan,” he said.

So far, the Malaysian government has refused to cooperate with foreign law enforcement partners, as can be seen by the rejection of Switzerland’s request for mutual legal assistance (MLA) twice.

Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) executive director Cynthia Gabriel said Sessions’ comments showed that the 1MDB case was “very much alive” and that Attorney General Apandi Ali is “duty-bound” to reopen the case.

“We are vindicated in that the American attorney general, in not so many words, said the case was very much alive and that this is the largest case they are pursuing. This is something that the Malaysian government pretends doesn’t exist,” she said.

Gabriel said that Malaysia’s reluctance to cooperate with foreign law enforcement had caused problems in the foreign nations returning seized 1MDB funds and assets.

“The Global Forum on Asset Recovery is a global effort organised by the World Bank as an initiative and is supported by the US and UK.

“The disappointment was that 1MDB was not included in the case study because the Malaysian government refuses to acknowledge the World Bank initiative, which means that our lawyers and civil society groups are not able to participate.

“It is very difficult in countries like Malaysia, where the ruling states that (the funds) were ‘allegedly stolen’, so even if the United States wanted to return the US$3.5 billion, it cannot,” she said.

DAP’s Dr Ong Kian Ming said with Sessions’ announcement, any thoughts of Najib sweeping the 1MDB case under the rug has been dashed.

“It is significant that this comes from the mouth of the attorney general Jeff Sessions, in what I believe is his first mention of the 1MDB case in connection to the DoJ’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. 

“This means that any hope that the Najib administration may have harboured that this case would be swept under the carpet just because Najib is ‘good friends’ with US President Donald Trump has been dashed to pieces.”

He said that Sessions has now stated the DoJ’s intention to work with other governments around the world would help “expedite the investigation process in the US”.

“If I were Jho Low, I would pay careful attention to where I am going since the AG explicitly stated cooperation with extradition requests. I could imagine the DoJ working with the UK government, for example, to extradite Jho Low to the US if he happens to visit the UK anytime soon,” he said. – December 5, 2017.