NAJIB & ROSMAH SHOULD HAVE FLED TO SAUDI OR UAE: MAHATHIR PM ACCUSES GULF GOVTS OF ‘PROTECTING’ INDIVIDUALS LINKED TO 1MDB – INCLUDING JHO LOW & HIS ARAB ASSOCIATES

Malaysia’s prime minister Dr Mahatir Mohamad has suggested his government may struggle to pursue individuals in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in connection with the multi-billion dollar corruption allegations at Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The names of several companies and individuals with links to Saudi Arabia and the UAE have cropped up in the course of investigations into 1MDB by authorities around the world.

A court filing in 2017 from the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) cited, among others, UAE-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary Aabar as being caught up in the scandal, with officials at those companies benefitting from stolen money. Switzerland has reportedly investigated individuals from PetroSaudi International, a one-time joint venture partner of 1MDB. And in October 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore stripped UAE-owned Falcon Bank of its license following examinations into 1MDB-related fund flows between March 2013 and May 2015.

In addition, media reports from Malaysia have indicated that some of the key individuals involved in the scandal may now be based in the UAE. In June, the New Straits Times reported that Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, the financier at the heart of the case, had offered to be interviewedin Dubai by Malaysian investigators.

Speaking at an event at Chatham House in London on October 1, Dr Mahatir said individuals in Malaysia will be pursued but those in the Gulf may be out of reach.

Asked about the likelihood of pursuing individuals in Saudi Arabia or the UAE he said, “If they break the law and they do it in our country where we can reach them of course we will apply the law to them. But sometimes these people run away to countries who are friendly to us but somehow or other allow these people to be protected by them. The best thing is to negotiate. We cannot go to war with those countries. They are very big countries.”

Mahathir Mohamad, prime minister of Malaysia, speaking at the Chatham House thinktank in London on October 1, 2018 (Photo: Dominic Dudley)DOMINIC DUDLEY

The DoJ, which has pursued a number of 1MDB-linked corruption cases in the U.S. courts, says the fraudulent diversion of funds from 1MDB began in 2009, soon after 1MDB’s creation, and involved a number of Gulf companies and individuals.

In a court filing in June last year, the DoJ said that “Between 2009 and 2011, under the pretense of investing in a joint venture between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International… officials of 1MDB and others arranged for the fraudulent transfer of more than $1bn from 1MDB to a Swiss bank account.”

The filing also said that in 2012 officials at 1MDB and others fraudulently diverted a substantial portion of  money that 1MDB raised through two bond offerings, which were guaranteed by 1MDB and IPIC. Some $1.4bn of the proceeds were diverted to a Swiss bank account “for the personal benefit of officials at IPIC, Aabar and 1MDB and their associates.”

The DoJ said a further $850m was misappropriated in 2014 from 1MDB by officials at 1MDB and Aabar, with the funds used to pay for, among other things, a luxury yacht. “A portion of the diverted loan proceeds was also used in an elaborate, Ponzi-like scheme to create the false appearance that 1MDB’s earlier investment in the PetroSaudi joint venture had been profitable,” said the DoJ.

With investigations continuing, is not yet clear to what extent the companies cited in the various investigations or their senior executives knew what was going on. However, some of the Gulf companies have been pursuing their own cases against 1MDB. In December, IPIC said it had received the final $600m payment from the Malaysian fund and the Malaysian government as part of an agreed settlement.

There is the potential for further embarrassment for the Gulf countries, though. The Saudi government has previously said it was aware of a payment of more than $600m from Saudi Arabia to then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, saying it was a donation with “nothing expected in return”. Last month, Razak was arrested over the payment.

Notwithstanding his comments about the Gulf, Dr Mahatir said his government plans to continue pursuing the 1MDB scandal to recover lost money.

“We are following the money trail, the paperwork that must be done when money moves. Our priority is to go for the cases where some evidence has already been gathered,” he told the audience in London. “The money that was being laundered was our money. We have a right to that.”

Dominic Dudley 

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