The civil forfeiture suit filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative means that a crime has been committed, said DAP lawmaker Steven Sim.
"One oft-cited defence, including by the Prime Minister (Najib Abdul Razak) himself when interviewed, is that the lawsuit is a 'civil case' in the US and not a criminal case.
"This is obviously a desperate, weak, ignorant, or even malicious attempt to defend the prime minister and 1MDB," Sim, who is the Bukit Mertajam MP, said in a statement.
He said that a civil forfeiture was another term for Non-Conviction Based (NCB) confiscation and that this was one of two types of confiscation, with the other being criminal confiscation.
In a criminal confiscation, the court seizes the property after a criminal conviction, while in a NCB confiscation, the court seizes the property without a conviction, Sim said.
"However, NCB conviction 'requires proof of the nexus between the particular property subject to confiscation and criminal conduct.
"In other words, even though the term 'civil' is used, the property in question is connected to proceeds or instruments of a criminal offence.
"To put it plainly, a crime has been committed to warrant the forfeiture," he said.
Explaining further, Sim said that civil forfeitures were particularly useful in cases where a criminal conviction was not possible such as when the property was held by a fugitive or a criminal who has died or was unavailable for prosecution in the US.
"Additional scenarios to resort to civil forfeiture, which may be more relevant to the 1MDB case, were given by the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative of the World Bank; where the violator is immune from criminal prosecution, or the violator is so powerful that a criminal investigation or prosecution is unrealistic or impossible," he said.
Sim said that the DOJ's lawsuit was clear that crimes were committed in relation to 1MDB, citing paragraph five of the document which said that "it is property involved in one or more money-laundering offences".
Money laundering and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity are criminal offences in violation of US laws, he said.
As such, he urged attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali to act or be seen as an accomplice to the crime.
"The implication of the lawsuit by the DOJ is no small matter at all – crime of the highest magnitude has been committed by Malaysian citizens and senior public officials including one 'Malaysian Official 1'.
"If the Attorney-General's Chamber does not act, it will not only be seen as powerless but also as an accomplice to the crime," Sim said. - Mkini
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