MACC says working with FBI in 1MDB probe

(MMO) – The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today confirmed it was working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that is investigating alleged money laundering linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

It further said that the cooperation has existed from before the US Justice Department’s filing of a civil lawsuit to seize over US$1 billion (RM4 billion) in assets allegedly procured using funds stolen from the Malaysian firm.

“On the aforementioned cooperation, it focuses on the possibility of embezzlement and money laundering by a businessman that is said to have cheated 1MDB,” the commission said in a statement.

The MACC did not identify the person in question.

The DOJ filed a civil lawsuit on Wednesday seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets linked to what it described as an “international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated” from 1MDB, the largest case ever brought by the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

US prosecutors said more than US$3.5 billion in 1MDB funds were allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of the local state investment firm and their associates between 2009 and 2015.

The funds allegedly embezzled and laundered into the US were purportedly used to buy luxury properties in New York, Los Angeles and London, paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, a US$35 million jet, as well as to pay for gambling debts in Las Vegas.