THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has initiated legal action against two law firms in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, news reports said.

It was reported that MACC is seeking documents from the law firms linked to a settlement agreement between Goldman Sachs and AmBank. 

The lawsuits filed in the High Court are against lawyer Rosli Dahlan and his firm Rosli Dahlan Saravanan, lawyer Chetan Jethwani and his firm Chetan Jethwani & Company and other respondents.

In its application dated October 11, the prosecution said it was seeking the documents under the firms’ “custody, care and control” to aid in the agency’s investigations on allegations that Rosli and Chetan were involved in bribery and money laundering on Goldman’s US$3.9 billion (RM18.5 billion) and AmBank’s RM2.83 billion settlement with the Malaysian government over 1MDB.  

MACC’s application against Chetan’s firm was fixed for mention before Justice Jamil Hussin this morning.

The application against Rosli’s firm will be before Justice K. Muniandy tomorrow.

According to court documents, the prosecution said the MACC faced obstacles in obtaining the documents.

They had tried to raid the law firms, but were denied documents after the respondents insisted that a court order was needed under section 46 of the MACC Act 2009 before searching or taking any documents from the premises.

It was reported that the MACC had attempted to raid the firms on October 6 in relation to the probe.

As for the raids on their law firms, the authorities were not allowed to access any of their clients’ documents. 

The lawyers also stressed that the authorities’ conduct was in violation of legal professional privilege.

On August 7,  Rosli’s law firm affirmed none of its clients’ documents was seized during the MACC raid at its office. 

RDS said MACC officers had no access to any of its clients’ documents.   

“As a law firm, we are committed to preventing any form of abuse, exploitation or coercion by any authority in the course of us acting for our clients.

“We remain committed to this principle, and we will continue to protect the legal rights and interests of all our clients,” it said in a statement. – October 16, 2023.