MALAYSIAN Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Azam Baki said the agency was tasked with only repatriating the money allegedly received by Tawfiq Ayman from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

This was his reply when asked about the agency’s role in investigating Tawfiq, who supposedly received some money through 1MDB from fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.

“Our task together with police is to get the money back from Singapore. That is the task given to us,” he told a press conference today.

However, he added, police investigation into the husband of former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz is still ongoing.

“The probe is under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, and I believe police will go to the Attorney-General’s Chambers once their probe is completed.”

It was reported that police started investigating Tawfiq in March last year, after it was found that he received 1MDB funds in his bank account in Singapore.

Singapore police informed BNM of a suspicious transaction amounting to RM66 million to a company allegedly owned by Zeti’s husband and their son from Low in 2015.

Zeti was then BNM governor.

Singapore’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) shared documents with Malaysia, showing that the UBS Bank account of a company called Iron Rhapsody received US$16.2 million from a company or account related to Low.

The CAD also reported two more transactions to Iron Rhapsody from Low – the first estimated at US$567,000 on June 1, 2009, and the second at US$1.25 million on December 18, 2009.

Tawfiq said he is cooperating with MACC and police on the matter.

Tawfiq earlier denied a court testimony claiming that he received a bribe to ensure US$1 billion was wired overnight to a 1MDB-PetroSaudi joint venture from Malaysia in 2009.

He said he was shocked at the testimony by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner and will seek legal advice on what to do next.

Media reported his statement last week, following Leissner’s testimony in a trial involving his subordinate, Roger Ng, in a New York court.

The US$1 billion was 1MDB’s investment into the joint-venture.

Leissner testified that the funds had been “wired overnight” and “it had been done because the husband of the then governor Zeti at BNM had received a bribe to make that happen”.

In 2009, he added, Malaysia had strict capital controls, and an investment of that amount leaving the country would have to be approved by the central bank.

Leissner did not mention Tawfiq by name. He also said he cannot “independently confirm” whether a bribe had been paid when asked by prosecutors. – March 1, 2022.