The action by the United States Department of Justice
Salleh Said Keruak
The announcement by the United States Department of Justice has created quite a bit of confusion basically because while there were some references, the details were not complete. What many appear to have missed is that this is a civil action and not criminal action although this does not mean that later it cannot also extend to criminal action if enough evidence of criminality is procured.
From our understanding the action currently being taken is based on complaints made by a third party or certain people aligned to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who are not actually the aggrieved party. Under US law, however, class action suits are allowed and the complainant can claim locus standi merely by virtue of the fact that he or she is a Malaysian citizen.
The aggrieved party in this case would be 1MDB and the US said it is taking action based on money stolen or illegally transferred from 1MDB. Therefore, if any assets or money are confiscated in the US, then under that money would be returned to 1MDB. The problem here, though, is that 1MDB itself has said it has not lost any money or no money has been stolen from it.
