THE civil suits to seize assets purchased with funds allegedly stolen from 1Malaysia Development Berhad by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) are politically motivated, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said today.

Apandi said this was because the US DoJ never officially requested the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for information or clarification.

“If they had asked, it is our responsibility to assist them. Therefore, I have come to a conclusion that it is politically motivated.

“The actions of the DoJ are also believed to be based on information given by certain individuals from Malaysia,” Bernama quoted him as saying today.

Apandi had previously said that the latest suit filed on June 13, which brought the total amount of money allegedly stolen from 1MDB to US$4.5 billion, was a repeat and lacked proof of wrongdoing.

However, this raised eyebrows with the Bar Council calling the AGC’s dismissal of the suits “troubling and unacceptable”, and urged Apandi to investigate the claims by US DoJ instead.

DAP national adviser Lim Kit Siang yesterday also pointed out that there seemed to be a concerted effort by the government, BN and its allies to portray the suits as foreign interference in a domestic issue.

This is the US DoJ’s third suit, which aims to seize US$1.7 billion’s worth in assets including a US$165 million yacht owned by financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

In July last year, the DoJ had filed a civil lawsuit seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets linked to what it described as an “international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated” from 1MDB, the largest case ever brought by the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

The US lawsuits had implicated several Malaysians, including  “Malaysia Official No.1” (MO1), who was later identified as Prime Minister Najib Razak by Cabinet minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing while Apandi had also cleared him after investigations by local agencies.

American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr have since handed over their multi-million dollar gifts from Jho Low to the DoJ. – June 27, 2017.