50 luxury cars involved in 1MDB probe, says MACC

 

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency is seeking information about 50 luxury cars, including a Pagani and Bugatti, seized by Swiss authorities. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into the 1MDB scandal also involves 50 luxury cars located in Switzerland, says chief commissioner Azam Baki.

The 50 cars were reportedly seized by Swiss authorities in 2018 and were believed to be registered to Emirati businessman Khadeem al Qubaisi, a former senior executive of an Abu Dhabi fund that has been linked to 1MDB.

Azam said in a statement today that MACC met the Swiss attorney-general’s office in 2021 over the 50 luxury vehicles after a mutual legal assistance request was sent to Switzerland for information on 1MDB-related frozen assets in November 2020.

Another meeting was held in March 2022 to get further information on the cars and to discuss developments regarding MACC’s request for assistance, he said.

He said MACC was seeking information from German authorities on the reported seizure of four special editions of Bugatti Veyron supercars.

FMT has contacted MACC for more details on the 50 luxury cars.

Khadeem is serving a 15-year prison sentence after being sentenced to jail for financial crimes in June 2019, but the Wall Street Journal reported that his conviction had nothing to do with 1MDB.

The Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported in 2018 that Swiss authorities had seized the 50 cars, with an estimated total value of RM200 million.

The vehicles, which reportedly included a Pagani and Bugatti, were either being stored in lock-ups across Switzerland or at several of Khadeem’s properties in Paris and the south of France.

Khadeem once headed Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which had been accused of being complicit in the 1MDB fraud.

The US Department of Justice had alleged that US$4.5 billion was stolen and distributed among a group of co-conspirators, including Khadeem and Mohd Badawy al Husseiny, who ran an IPIC subsidiary. However, Khadeem claimed he was being made the scapegoat in the scandal.

In February last year, IPIC and Aabar Investments PJS agreed to pay US$1.8 billion (RM8.06 billion) to 1MDB and Malaysia’s finance ministry to settle a legal dispute concerning their complicity in the financial scandal. - FMT