The Malaysian Insight

THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) did not investigate 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) because other authorities were already doing so, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low said in a written parliamentary reply.

Other authorities, such as Bank Negara Malaysia, the police and the Public Accounts Committee, had commenced investigations into the state investor, he said in his reply dated November 1, in response to a question by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua.

Pua had asked the minister about MACC’s statement in June, when its chief commissioner Dzulkifli Ahmad said the anti-graft body did not want an “overlap” with police investigations.

“MACC didn’t investigate the 1MDB case as the investigation had been carried out by other authorities, namely Bank Negara, the police and Public Accounts Committee,” Low said.

While the MACC did not probe 1MDB itself, it had investigated the RM2.6 billion that Prime Minister Najib Razak had called a “donation” from Saudi Arabia. It had also investigated SRC International, one of the companies through which portions of the same money had allegedly flown through from 1MDB before reaching Najib’s personal bank accounts.

Bank Negara had fined 1MDB for lack of compliance with the Financial Services Act in April last year, while the PAC, a bipartisan body under Parliament, held its own inquiry into the fund founded by Najib and tabled a report on its findings to the Dewan Rakyat.

The PAC had recommended further investigations into the fund’s former chief executive officer Shahrol Halmi and also highlighted 1MDB’s weaknesses, such as its loans-dependent business model, failure to give accurate information to auditors and lack of due diligence in investment decisions.

Police had investigated 1MDB under Section 409 of Penal Code for criminal breach of trust and Section 420 of the same code for cheating.

In August this year, Bank Negara said it had closed its investigations into 1MDB, which is also being probed in several other countries, including the United States, which has launched a criminal probe.

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali had, on Oct 31, announced he had ordered police to reopen the 1MDB probe because of insufficient evidence. – November 6, 2017.