Salleh Keruak claims Dr M’s allies behind US DOJ’s 1MDB suit
(MMO) – The fact that the US Justice Department had said that the suit was filed based on suspicions and that it needed further investigations, he said, showed that the matter was not conclusive.
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s allies are behind the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit seeking to recover more than US$1 billion in assets bought with money allegedly embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak claimed.
In a blog post yesterday, the communications and multimedia minister wrote that he was made to understand that “certain people” aligned to the former prime minister had lodged complaints with the US government.
“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,” he wrote.
Salleh said the aggrieved party in the case was none other than 1MDB and added that it was problematic for the US to take action based on money allegedly stolen or transferred from the local state investment firm.
“The problem here, though, is that 1MDB itself has said it has not lost any money or no money has been stolen from it.
“If the US had chosen criminal action then the burden of proof would be on the prosecutor to prove guilt.
“In this case, they have chosen civil action and after freezing or confiscating the assets of the accused, the accused will need to prove that the assets were legally and not illegally acquired. This shifts the burden of proof from the prosecutor to the accused,” he wrote.
