PRESS RELEASE REGARDING STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE KEEPER OF THE RULERS’ SEAL ON BEHALF OF THE MALAY RULERS

With reference to the statement issued by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal on behalf of the Malay Rulers on 7 October 2015 and prior adverse or negative statements and comments against the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) on the delay in the completion of the investigation related to 1MDB and a decision thereon, the AGC wish to state the following.

The Task Force on investigations into 1MDB has never been dissolved or disbanded and the AGC has never made any statement to that effect. In fact the investigations conducted by the respective agencies were never at any time halted or hindered. The Attorney General has been constantly monitoring and giving instructions to the relevant agencies whenever the investigations were referred to the AGC, including instructions to expedite investigations.

As of today the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have not completed their investigations as some key witnesses’ statements have yet to be recorded.

As for the Central Bank of Malaysia (CBM), the investigation was conducted into 1MDB for an offence under paragraph (4)(b) of Part 1 of the  Fifth Schedule to the Exchange Control Act 1953 namely, knowingly or recklessly making a statement which is false in a material particular. The investigation paper (IP) was submitted to the AGC on 21 August 2015.

Having studied the IP, the Deputy Solicitor General 1, Datuk Tun Abd Majid bin Tun Hamzah, decided that there was no offence committed by the 1MDB officials and directed that no further action should be taken. The IP was returned to CBM on 11 September 2015. Hence the decision had been communicated to CBM on the same day.

However, on 1 October 2015 CBM transmitted a letter of request to AGC to have the decision reviewed. Having considered the request and the fact that there was no new evidence made available, the Attorney General decided to maintain the decision made earlier. In this respect, the AGC would like to state that what had been in the news between 12 September 2015 until today concerning the IP still being with AGC and that discussions were ongoing, is inaccurate and not true.

ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CHAMBERS MALAYSIA