MALAYSIA’S Attorney-General today described the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) latest suit as a repeat of last year’s US$1 billion suit, and expressed frustration that it was not alerted of this latest action.

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali noted that his office has yet to be provided with proof that money had been siphoned from state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), even as it acknowledged the DoJ move to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets said to be bought with stolen funds.

“1MDB is a Malaysian company and has been the subject of multiple investigations within Malaysia, including by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Auditor General and bi-partisan Public Accounts Committee.

“After review, we found that that no crime was committed. Presently there is still an ongoing investigation conducted by the Royal Malaysia Police concerning 1MDB,” Apandi said in a statement.

Investigations conducted by ‎law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions, including the US DoJ, had also failed to furnish evidence that 1MDB funds were misappropriated, nor had there been any criminal charges brought against any individual, in particular Prime Minister Najib Razak, for the same offence, he said.

“We would like to express strong concerns at the insinuations that have been made against the Prime Minister of criminal wrongdoing. At no point in the civil claims is the Prime Minister named as a defendant or has been alleged to have committed any criminal wrong doing.”

Apandi said the DoJ had also not made any request to the AGC for information or evidence, when such a request would be welcome in line with “our commitment to international cooperation and the fight against money laundering”.

“As I have promised before, the AGC will not hesitate to initiate proceedings against the perpetrators of criminal acts provided there is sufficient evidence to do so. Any wrongdoing will be punished and Malaysia will always uphold the rule of law.”

The DoJ yesterday filed to seize the assets it alleged were bought with money stolen from 1MDB.

The assets it targets include rights to the film ‘Dumb and Dumber To’, produced by Riza Aziz, Najib’s stepson.

At the same time last year, US prosecutors filed civil asset-forfeiture suits against more than US$1 billion worth of artworks, real estate and other assets of similar provenance owned by several individuals. – June 16, 2617.