The Malaysian Insight

POLICE today dismissed any link between the shooting of a former attorney-general’s driver and scandal-riddden state investor 1MDB, even as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cited the incident as a possible warning to witnesses not to help in its investigations.

Newly appointed Inspector-General of Police Mohd Fuzi Harun said the shooting of the driver of former Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail was not connected to 1MDB.

He said the investigation so far showed that the August 29 shooting was not linked to Gani, who retired as attorney-general in October 2015.

Gani was heading the task force investigating the 1MDB scandal when he was removed as the attorney-general and replaced by Mohamed Apandi Ali.

“As far as I know, there is no link,” Fuzi told The Malaysian Insight in a text message.

Bloomberg reported that in a federal court filing in Los Angeles yesterday, the FBI said several individuals in “certain foreign countries” were concerned about their safety should they cooperate in the FBI’s criminal probe into 1MDB.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a criminal investigation into funds allegedly siphoned from 1MDB and has sought to delay civil suits filed in the past two years to forfeit more than US$1 billion (RM4.3 billion) in real estate and other assets.

Bloomberg said witnesses who had come forward to provide information had told the FBI that they were worried that they were putting “the safety and security of both themselves and their families at serious risk”. 

In its filing, the FBI cited Malaysian news reports of local officials who had been arrested because of their purported role in investigating embezzlement in 1MDB.

It also cited the August 29 shooting of Gani’s driver as a possible warning to the former prosecutor not to cooperate with the US authorities.

This development comes ahead of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s visit next week to the White House on the invitation of President Donald Trump

US investigations into 1MDB centre on alleged financial irregularities and money laundering. Similar probes are also being carried out in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Kingdom, UAE, and Seychelles.

Najib, who until last year was the 1MDB advisory board chairman, has denied any wrongdoing and was cleared by Attorney-General Apandi of any involvement in the state investor’s multi-billion-ringgit losses.

Meanwhile, Ampang Jaya police chief Hamzah Alias told The Malaysian Insight that there was no new development in the  investigation into the shooting of Gan’s driver was 

“We have yet to establish the motive and so far no one has been arrested in connection with the case,” he said.

He added that police had from the beginning discounted the possibility  that the incident was related to Gani or 1MDB.

“It has nothing to do with him (Gani),” Hamzah said in a telephone interview.

Gani’s 40-year-old driver was shot in the leg by two men on a motorcycle at the front door of his house on August 29 as he was about to leave for work.

The suspects fired at him after calling out his name. The driver began working for Gani in January. – September 6, 2017.