Cops: Probe into Zeti’s husband ongoing, to go to S’pore end of this month

The police have assured that they are still investigating the money laundering allegations involving Tawfiq Ayman, the husband of former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Mohd Kamarudin Md Din said the investigative unit will head to Singapore on March 29 and 30 to conduct further investigations.

“The Singapore police’s Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) has agreed for the investigative team to head to Singapore on March 29 and 30 for the purpose of collecting information and statements related to the case,” he said in a statement.

This comes after the Singapore Police Force said that it took the Malaysian police nearly two months to respond when their Singapore counterparts proposed dates for the visit, which was initially slated for early December 2021.

The CAD had also proposed for the Malaysian police to visit between Feb 8 and 9 but only received a response on March 8, when they requested to enter Singapore in mid-to-late March.

Kamarudin explained that the trip in December could not take place due to the temporary suspension of the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) from Dec 23 until Jan 20.

They also claimed that an investigation officer was Covid-19 positive in February, which led to him not being able to respond to the CAD’s proposal.

“In addition, we had not received responses by witnesses, who are Singapore nationals, regarding their willingness to be interviewed by the Malaysian investigative team,” Kamarudin said.

Kamarudin added that the police did not intend to withhold information or confuse any parties and that they were committed to completing a thorough and fair investigation as soon as possible.

Alleged bribe

Tawfiq is alleged to have received 1MDB-linked funds through Iron Rhapsody Ltd - a company that is allegedly beneficially owned by Tawfiq and one of his sons.

Iron Rhapsody is alleged to have transferred the 1MDB-linked funds to Cutting Edge Industries - which is also owned by Tawfiq and his sons Abdul Aziz and Aliff Ayman.

Last November, it was reported that US$15.4 million (RM64.9 million) linked to the accounts of Cutting Edge Industries had been repatriated from Singapore to Malaysia.

The police had been asked by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to conduct further investigations on the case, but on March 1, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Mas Ermieyati Samsudin told parliament that they were unable to do so because the Malaysia-Singapore border was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On March 4, Kamarudin had reportedly said police have already contacted “the countries involved” to seek assistance with the case but had not received the desired response.

According to Bernama, he said police are waiting for the green light from the countries involved before proceeding to obtain statements from witnesses and related documents. The report did not mention the countries involved.

There has been renewed interest in Tawfiq’s link in the 1MDB scandal after former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner testified that his subordinate had informed him that Zeti's husband had been “bribed”.

However, he said he could not independently verify if a bribe was indeed paid, while Tawfiq said he had never received any bribe. - Mkini