THE Malaysian government made no attempts to recover confiscated funds, including the CHF104 million (RM430 million) allegedly stolen from state investor 1MDB, Swiss lawmakers have confirmed.

The funds were confiscated by Swiss bank regulator Finma from three banks in relation to money laundering, said C4’s Cynthia Gabriel.

The Centre to Combat Cronyism and Corruption executive director met civil society organisations and lawmakers in Geneva on Tuesday.

“Malaysia’s failure to claim the money is likely to result in the funds being transferred to the Swiss treasury unless Switzerland changes its asset recovery laws,” she said in a joint statement. 

The statement was issued by Bruno Manser Funds in Basel, C4 from Malaysia, Global Bersih in Geneva and Bersih 2.0. 

Swiss lawmakers had tabled a motion calling for the repatriation of confiscated funds allegedly laundered and stolen by 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

Lawmakers in the national council, the lower house of the Swiss federal assembly, are expected to vote on whether to repatriate the funds tomorrow.

Gabriel said Swiss MP Carlo Sommaruga tabled a motion which requests for confiscated profits originating from grand corruption to be repatriated to the countries of origin. 

The civil society organisations were invited to discuss the issue with Swiss MPs at a reception at the Parliament House in Bern, she said.

“It is a shame that the Malaysian government has deliberately refused to acknowledge the illicit profits and financial flows related to 1MDB, leaving the Swiss Parliament to debate and vote on the 1MDB scandal. 

“An open debate in the Malaysian Parliament has never been allowed to take place. 

“We appreciate the initiatives by Sommaruga and hope that other Swiss lawmakers would support the motion for the accountable return of assets to the Malaysian public.”

Global Bersih director Bala Chelliah said if Prime Minister Najib Razak wants a fresh mandate from Malaysians, he must first account for the missing billions.

Bersih 2.0 acting chairman Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari said he hopes the money could be returned to Malaysians via an independent trust fund. 

Bruno Manser Fund director Lukas Straumann said in the last few years, billions have been confiscated worldwide in corruption proceedings. 

“Switzerland has a great international responsibility in this issue and should take the lead to enable a fair and transparent recovery of corruption proceeds to the countries of origin,” he said. 

The repatriation of funds hidden or stashed overseas, away from their country of origin, and their use to benefit the nationals harmed by such corrupt practices is an international principle adopted as a result of a United Nations convention which Malaysia signed in Mexico on December 9, 2003 and ratified on September 24, 2008.

The convention includes a specific chapter on asset recovery aimed at returning assets to their rightful owners, including countries from which they had been illicitly taken. – March 14, 2018.