Switzerland's Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) has opened criminal proceedings relating to Malaysia's troubled state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a spokesman said on Friday.
1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, is being examined by Malaysian authorities investigating accusations of financial mismanagement and graft. The fund has been dogged by controversy over its US$11 billion (RM46 billion) debt and alleged financial mismanagement.
"The Office of the Attorney-General confirms that, on August 14 2015, it opened a criminal procedure against two entities of 1MDB as well as against an unknown person," the OAG spokesman said in an email.
The case involved "suspected corruption of public foreign officials, dishonest management of public interests and money laundering", he said.
The criminal proceedings follow two communications from the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS) the spokesman added.
Clare Brown, editor of whistleblower website Sarawak Report, had immediately written to the Swiss authorities, offerring information, when news of the arrest of Swiss national Xavier Justo (above) broke out. Justo is the former director of PetroSaudi and was sacked for allegedly stealing the firm's secrets. He is being charged in Thailand for trying to extort PetroSaudi. The Middle Eastern firm is a key business partner of Najib's scandal-tainted 1MDB sovereign fund. Both 1MDB and PetroSaudi have been accused of massive corruption by Clare, who is now wanted by Malaysian police. They have put her on Interpol's wanted list. According to Malaysian govt, they are pushing to extradite the UK-based journalist for her series of articles that have 'defamed' Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor. Two days ago, a Malaysian politician from Najib's own party, Khairuddin Abu Hassan, also submitted evidence related to 1MDB to the Swiss attorney-general in Bern, Switzerland, asking the country's authorities to investigate the company's activities involving both Swiss and several international banks.- Malaysia Chronicle
News of the investigation was first reported by Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
Swiss financial regulator Finma said on Wednesday it was checking with some of the country's banks whether they carried out business with 1MDB. – Reuters
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.