MALAYSIAN authorities should conduct an immediate probe into the US Department of Justice’s “grave allegations” of kleptocracy, the Bar Council said today, adding the manner in which the civil assets forfeiture suits were dismissed was “troubling and unacceptable”.

The Malaysian Bar said the latest civil suit, together with the two suits filed on July 20 last year and on June 7, sought to forfeit almost US$1.7 billion (RM7.3 billion) in assets and represented the largest action ever brought by the DoJ under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.