THE Finance Ministry has refuted DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s allegations, contained in his letter to 154 Swiss MPs, that 1Malaysia Development Bhd assets have been misappropriated.
“1MDB has informed the ministry that allegations of its assets being embezzled or misappropriated, either domestically or overseas, are simply not true and politically motivated,” the ministry said in a statement today.
This follows reports that Lim and Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail have sent letters to Swiss MPs, urging them to lobby for the repatriation of 104 million Swiss francs (RM430 million) being retained by the Swiss Financial Markets Authority (Finma).
The funds are allegedly linked to the Malaysian state investor.
The ministry said Finma is investigating private banks in Switzerland following complaints that the banks are flaunting local money laundering laws and illegally profiting from banking transactions.
“We have been advised that the 104 million Swiss francs represent the total amount in fines or penalties imposed by Finma on various private banks for violations of Swiss finance and banking laws.
“Therefore, the money does not belong to the Malaysian government, or any of its agencies or related companies.”
It said it has been advised that several Swiss banks are disputing the fines and have appealed to Swiss courts to exonerated them from any wrongdoing.
“As numerous checks and audits conducted by various Malaysian enforcement agencies have not shown any missing funds from 1MDB, the ministry finds it difficult to take any position and to make a claim (for the funds) from the Swiss government, as the monies do not belong to the Malaysian public, as alleged by Wan Azizah and Lim in their letters to the Swiss MPs.” – Bernama, March 14, 2018.
Comments
Posted 6 years ago by Meng Kow Loh · Reply
If the Public Account Committee of the parliament has cleared 1MDB and confirmed that all is well, why is the PAC report classified and cannot be released to the public? When the AG does not act, he simply has the authority not to act even if he might be duty bound act. His words cannot be unquestioned proof of innocence.
Posted 6 years ago by Meng Kow Loh · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Red Cicak · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Crishan Veera · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply
Has or has not 1MDB lost any money through fraud and embezzlement?
If the answer is negative as claimed by MOF, then why hasn’t Najib and his government taken any step to defend his, his government and Malaysia’s honour and dignity against the myriad of punitive legal actions by many jurisdictions and the avalanche of castigating criticism by governments and leading media around the globe , arising from the grand theft in 1MDB all these years?
1MDB is known to have lost RM50 billion mainly through frauds and theft, and our own Auditor General has reported that US7 billion was unaccounted for from 1MDB’s accounts.
Since 1MDB has no properly audited account for the past 5 years (since 2012), the Prime Minister is now duty bound to declare to the nation a full list of 1MDB’s assets – without hiding billions behind the so-called “units” – to allay rising fear and fury of the people.
Posted 6 years ago by Kim quek · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply