MACC: AG told us special taskforce on 1MDB no longer needed
(Malay Mail Online) – The special taskforce that was probing the state-owned firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is no longer needed, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said today.
The commission said this was communicated to it by Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, the government’s newly-appointed Attorney-General, prior to the press statement it sent on Monday on the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s accounts.
It explained that the statement, which confirmed that the funds had come from donors and not 1MDB as previously suspected, was issued without the endorsement of the taskforce’s other members — the Royal Malaysian Police and Bank Negara Malaysia — on Mohamed Apandi’s advice.
“On questions why MACC issued a press statement on August 3, 2015 without the involvement of the Royal Malaysia Police and Bank Negara Malaysia, (we) wish to explain that MACC made the announcement without going through the Special Taskforce after being advised by the Attorney-General of Malaysia, that there is no longer a need for the Special Taskforce.
“Instead, the investigating agencies involved can carry out their duties according to their respective laws,” the anti-graft commission said in a lengthy statement today.
It said that the agencies in the special taskforce had their own internal investigation teams and will now submit their respective findings to the Attorney-General for the latter to decide on whether prosecution would be initiated.
When asked for clarification, a source confirmed that this means that there is now “no more special taskforce” to probe 1MDB, while the internal taskforces of each agencies will continue to carry out their own investigation.
The MACC clarified again today that it was not probing 1MDB, but was merely probing two separate matters — a RM2.6 billion “donation” into the prime minister’s account and a RM4 billion fund related to the former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.
The MACC’s Monday statement on the RM2.6 billion “donation” triggered a flurry of responses from activists and opposition lawmakers, who demanded that the commission investigate the donation for possible corruption and money-laundering.
The commission and Najib himself have also been urged to reveal the identities of the donors and the purpose of the funds.
It was previously alleged that the funds were used for Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Election 2013 campaigns but detractors have pointed out that this would be illegal as RM2.6 billion far surpasses the legal limit allowed by Malaysia’s election laws.
In a report on July 2, US-based daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that a money trail showed that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was moved among government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts, two months before the 13th general election in May 2013.
On July 4, the then-Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail who was heading the 1MDB special taskforce confirmed that the multi-agency team was already investigating the claim in the WSJ report and had raided three firms named in the report.
The firms named were SRC International, 1MDB charitable arm Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.
