(Photo: South China Morning Post)
Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian authoritiesarrested their former Prime Minister Najib Razak on July 3, and they are set tocharge him for his involvement at the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) inthe loss of billions of US dollars the following day.
Previously, the task force had looked into the1MDB scandal, freezing 408 bank accounts involving funds of approximately 1.1billion ringgit (272.4 million USD).
These accounts included those of 81 individualsand 55 companies believed to have received funds from 1MDB, and be linked tothe misappropriation and misuse of 1MDB funds.
1MDB is an investment fund formed by then PrimeMinister Najib Razak in 2009 with the aim of serving Malaysia’s developmentthrough global partnerships and foreign direct investment.
However, it became the centre of a moneylaundering scandal, allegedly causing losses of up to 3.7 billion USD andleading to probes into the financial markets in several countries such as theUS, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, and China.
In early May, the Malaysian Anti-CorruptionCommission summoned Razak and his wife for investigation. Police also seized avast quantity of valuables, worth up to 273 million USD, from the country’sformer leader.
Taking office after the May 9 election, newPrime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said one of the top priorities of his governmentis dealing with the corruption and recovering the losses from 1MDB. TheMalaysian Government also re-investigated the 1MDB case and set up a specialcommittee to look into the problems surrounding this fund. -VNA