DIRTY TACTICS: NAJIB REGIME PUTS UP ROADBLOCKS AT HOME EVEN AS 1MDB PROBE GATHERS STEAM OVERSEAS

As foreign investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd. gather pace, efforts at home to probe alleged corruption at the troubled state investment fund are facing roadblocks.

A Malaysian parliamentary committee that is looking into allegations of graft at 1MDB, which was set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to foster growth, said Tuesday it would delay until early March a crucial meeting scheduled for this week to scrutinize a much-awaited report by the nation’s auditor general on the fund’s activities.

The Public Accounts Committee, in a statement, said the delay was due to members being absent from Malaysia, including some parliamentarians who are in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage.

Members of Malaysia’s opposition, which has led calls for more scrutiny of 1MDB, said ruling party lawmakers intentionally had stayed away to delay the meeting, whose date had been set over a month ago. Last year, the committee’s probe was suspended for months after Mr. Najib promoted its chairman into his cabinet, forcing it to appoint another head.

Opposition politicians say they are worried Mr. Najib’s government is moving to close down investigations and discussion of the fund’s activities.

They contrast delays in Malaysia with foreign investigations into 1MDB, which people familiar with them say are moving ahead, including probes by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and authorities in Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi.

“I’m concerned over the delays in the tabling of the auditor general’s report, despite the date having been set more than a month in advance,” said Tony Pua, an opposition politician and member of the parliamentary committee.

Switzerland’s attorney general last month saidits probe into 1MDB estimated the total amount misappropriated from the Malaysian fund to be about $4 billion. It said some of the funds have been sent to Swiss accounts held by former Malaysian public officials and former and current officials from the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital.

A Malaysian government investigation last year found that almost $700 million had entered Mr. Najib’s personal accounts, mostly in 2013, via companies, agencies and banks linked to 1MDB, The Wall Street Journal reported in July. The Journal in December reported how the fund was used to finance political spending by Mr. Najib’s ruling party ahead of a close election in 2013.

Attempts to reach Mr. Najib’s office Tuesday weren’t successful. Mr. Najib has denied wrongdoing or taking money for personal gain. The 1MDB fund has denied wrongdoing and says it is cooperating with investigations.

Mr. Najib, in a speech last week to mark the 40th anniversary of becoming a politician, denied ever using money to buy votes as some have accused him of doing. He also made what appeared to be a veiled attack on critics within his ruling party who have called for his ouster over the scandal. “Do not assume that if I am quiet, you can do what you like,” Mr. Najib said, according to Bernama, Malaysia’s official news agency. “If it goes over the limit, I will act.”

Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali earlier this month proposed amending the country’s official secrets act to allow life imprisonment and caning for journalists and others who are found guilty of receiving leaked government information. Mr. Apandi didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Malaysia’s cabinet, which must approve the proposal before it can be debated in parliament, is divided over the issue, according to one cabinet member. Freedom of speech advocates, including Malaysian journalist associations, have criticized the proposal.

The Public Accounts Committee’s probe into 1MDB is crucial as other investigations involving the central bank, police and the anticorruption agency have petered out, said Mr. Pua, the opposition lawmaker.

Mr. Apandi, the attorney general, last month found that $681 million of the money that entered one of Mr. Najib’s accounts was a legal donation from Saudi Arabia and ordered the anticorruption body to drop its case. He said all but $61 million of the $681 million was returned to the Saudis five months later.

A Saudi official said the nation’s finance and foreign ministries had no knowledge of the donation and that such a transfer into the personal bank account of a foreign leader would be unprecedented.

Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in a speech Tuesday she hoped to complete her agency’s investigations into 1MDB before retiring from office in April. Bank Negara last year recommended the attorney general file criminal charges against 1MDB for allegedly giving inaccurate information in seeking the central bank’s permission to invest $1.83 billion in a joint venture with a Saudi oil company.

The attorney general declined to take action, saying there was insufficient evidence. The central bank said it would seek to impose monetary penalties, which is within its powers.

The parliamentary committee’s chairman, Hasan Arifin, drew criticism in November when asked whether the committee would call Mr. Najib as a witness. “No. I need to earn a living too,” he replied. Mr. Arifin later said the remarks were a joke. He didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The auditor general, which scrutinizes government finances, also has been probing the fund. Its final report into 1MDB, which was supposed to be given this week to the parliamentary committee, is highly anticipated in Malaysia.

An interim version of the report from last year, a copy of which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, showed how $700 million of 1MDB money intended for 1MDB’s joint venture with the Saudi oil company moved in 2009 to another company. What happened to the funds is unclear.

Malaysia’s police chief in October said his department’s investigation of 1MDB couldn’t proceed until the auditor general’s report was completed.