IGP denies claims Bank Negara officials under investigation
(Bernama) – Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today denied claims that three senior officers of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) are being investigated by the authorities on suspicion of leaking classified information to Wall Street Journal (WSJ) regarding the 1MDB issue.
He said the three senior officers concerned had nothing to do with the investigations at the moment, an in fact even BNM had, in a statement today, refuted outright the claims that the officers had leaked confidential information to the media.
The central bank said in a statement that the allegations were baseless and that it had filed a police report on the matter.
“A special task force is investigating (the 1MDB issue), and many people have been called to have their statements recorded, including officers from BNM and other commercial banks, to facilitate investigations.
“We have opened an investigation and done some planning. First, we investigate those responsible for the accounting records, and so on,” he told reporters after attending a Ramadan programme at Masjid Nurul Iman Kampung Gebok, Mantin, near here.
Malaysia-Today’s administrator Raja Petra Kamarudin had published an article titled ‘The Bank Negara Scandal, Yet Again’ claiming three senior officers from BNM were being investigated by the special task force for allegedly leaking confidential banking information that was being investigated by it, to WSJ.
Khalid said the police viewed seriously the allegations, as the investigation on the case was still in progress.
WSJ recently published a report citing unnamed Malaysian investigators that nearly USD700 million (RM2.6 billion) from 1MDB was diverted into the personal accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
Following that, a task force which includes Khalid was established to investigate the matter.
At the ceremony, Khalid and his wife Puan Sri Imran Ibrahim also presented donations to 40 orphans, retired police officers, persons with disabilities, destitute families, elderly citizens, single mothers and widows.
