1MDB confirms office raided, documents seized
(Malay Mail Online) – 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has confirmed that its office here is being raided by a special taskforce investigating the firm and documents have also been confiscated by the investigators.
In a brief media statement issue following reports of the raid, the state-owned firm that was accused of moving US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) into the accounts of the prime minister said it will offer complete co-operation to investigators.
“We can confirm that a number of officials from the Task Force, conducting an enquiry into 1MDB, visited our offices today. They were provided with a number of documents and materials to aid with the investigations currently taking place.
“1MDB is extending its full cooperation to the Task Force and all lawful authorities. We reaffirm our previously stated position that if any wrongdoing is found, then action must be taken by the lawful authorities, as per due process and the laws of our country,” the state-owned firm said.
The special taskforce investigating 1MDB is headed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers and includes Bank Negara Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police, and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
Earlier, The Star reported on its website that police were raiding the office of the firm now at the centre of a controversial claim that its funds were funnelled into the personal accounts of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Media personnel present at the building that houses 1MDB’s office on Jalan Sultan Ismail here have been barred from entering the premises where white-shirted investigators continue to come and go.
Yesterday, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail announced that the taskforce has frozen six bank accounts and seized 17 documents related to the claim first published by US daily the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
In a report on Friday, the WSJ, citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that a money trail showed that US$700 million were moved between government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.
Najib has denied taking funds from 1MDB for “personal gain” and his lawyers have since asked the WSJ to state if the newspaper is accusing the prime minister of misappropriating funds.
Aside from the special taskforce, 1MDB is also under investigation by the Auditor-General’s Department and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.