1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
After several Malaysian investigations were opened, Najib responded by dismissing several of his critics from government positions, including his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.
In his first year in office, he established 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a sovereign wealth fund, which sought out to make strategic investments and alleviate poverty, as part of his economic liberalisation policy and trademark 1Malaysia program.
[26] US authorities say that Goldman Sachs, particularly Roger Ng, were central with orchestrating the scheme, particularly the laundering of money from the fund, some of which was used to pay bribes to officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
[2] He established friendships with musicians Swizz Beats, Alicia Keys and Pras, was pictured partying with socialite Paris Hilton, and used funds to purchase luxury items for model Miranda Kerr and singer Elva Hsiao, with whom he was romantically involved.
Tony Pua, DAP Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara, questioned Najib, 1MDB's advisory board chairman, as to whether the figures were the result of an asset injection into 1MDB by the government such as the transfer of land rights to the company.
[33] The Sungai Besi airport land transfer took place in June 2011 as a precedent for the development known as Bandar Malaysia, a mixed integrated project of commercial, residential, and hi-tech green environment.
[34] Prior to this, there had been questions in parliament by the opposition regarding the lack of progress on Bandar Malaysia even though 1MDB had already raised RM 3.5 billion in loans and Islamic bonds to fund the project and take ownership of the land.
As part of its debt rationalisation plan, on 31 December 2015, 1MDB signed an agreement with a consortium comprising Iskandar Waterfront Holdings and China Railway Engineering Corporation to sell 60% of its stake in Bandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
[43][44] By early March 2015, with public discontent growing at the perceived lack of financial transparency at 1MDB, the Prime Minister, who was also the Chairman of 1MDB's Board of Advisors, ordered the Auditor General of Malaysia to carry out an audit of 1MDB.
[51] In May 2018, after the formation of the new Cabinet following Pakatan Harapan's victory in the General Elections, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng ordered the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct a special position audit and review of 1MDB.
It represents one of the largest claims filed by the fund in relation to the multibillion-dollar graft scandal that has prompted criminal investigations across multiple countries, including the United States, Switzerland, and Singapore.
[56] The ongoing legal actions demonstrate the complex and international nature of the 1MDB scandal, as well as the Malaysian government's continued efforts to recover lost funds and hold responsible parties accountable.
[57] The 1MDB scandal has had far-reaching implications, contributing to the downfall of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for corruption related to the financial debacle.
The attorney general Abdul Gani Patail, who was heading a multi-agency task force investigating claims of misappropriations of funds allegedly involving Najib Razak and 1MDB, was dismissed and his position given to Mohamed Apandi Ali, a former Federal Court judge.
[132][133][134] Internet access was blocked by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), to websites including Medium.com, a social journalism platform over just a single article posted by Sarawak Report.
[135][136] Another website, Asia Sentinel, was blocked after carrying a Sarawak Report article related to MACC completing a probe that allegedly resulted in 37 charges being drawn up against Najib.
As claimed by the police, this was the biggest seizure in Malaysian history, with the seized items comprising more than 12,000 pieces of jewelry, 423 valuable watches and 567 handbags made up of 37 luxury brands.
The government has also issued arrest warrants against Jho Low and former director of SRC International Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil in a graft probe related to the state fund 1MDB.
The prosecutors were seeking criminal fines in excess of $2.7 billion misappropriated from the bonds proceeds, $600 million in fees received by Goldman Sachs, as well as custodial sentences against the individuals accused.
[176][177] On 1 September 2022, Najib's wife Rosmah Mansor was also found guilty of three counts of corruption by the Malaysian High Court and sentenced to both a ten-year term of imprisonment and a RM970 million fine.
[195][196][197] On August 3, 2015, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) declared that the RM 2.6 billion deposited into Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal account originated from donors, not 1MDB.
[218] The prohibition order, which prevents him from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act and from managing any capital market services firm in Singapore, was extended in December 2018 from 10 years to lifetime after he admitted to charges related to an investigation into the 1MDB scandal.
[234] However, on 10 July 2018, Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber [de] indicated that Switzerland would not enrich itself by keeping illicit or stolen assets and be able to have the monies returned by legal obligations.
[237] The United Arab Emirates imposed travel bans on, froze the bank accounts of, and subsequently arrested Khadem al-Qubaisi, the former managing director of the Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Company, and Mohammed Badawy al-Husseiny, his deputy and CEO of its subsidiary Aabar Investments.Both individuals had close ties to 1MDB and utilized the British Virgin Islands-based Aabar Investments PJS to channel money from 1MDB into various accounts and companies globally.
[268] In June 2017, the DOJ began actions to recover more than US$1 billion from people close to Najib and 1MDB,[269][270][271][272] seizing assets including high-end properties in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Manhattan, New York City and London,[273][274] as well as fine artwork, a private jet, a luxury yacht and royalties from the film The Wolf of Wall Street and its production company Red Granite Pictures.
[295][296] On 23 February 2022, the star witness in the bribery trial of former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker Roger Ng being held in New York, testified that ex-Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein met in 2009 with then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak just ahead of big bond deals for the country's 1MDB fund — and that the meeting came with an agenda.
[300] Ng was convicted of conspiring to launder money and bribe officials in Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates as well as violating the internal accounting controls of his employer under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
This site and channel are widely circulated on social networks by fake accounts as part of a larger smear operation, calling him a thief, a drug addict, a blackmailer.
[315] In February 2015, The Sunday Times and The Edge newspapers and Sarawak Report blog, referencing the leaked email correspondences and documents obtained by Rewcastle Brown, reported that Penang-based Low Taek Jho, who has ties Najib Razak, siphoned out US$700 million from a joint venture deal between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International through an entity named Good Star Ltd.[316][317][318][319][320] Although Low never received an official position in 1MDB, he is described as someone who was regularly consulted about 1MDB without having any decision-making authority.
[322][323] According to a 2022 report by German local news site Neckarstadtblog,[324] Suaad A. Al-Attas, former wife of Mohammed Badawy Al Husseiny, received nearly US$40 million from the 1MDB scandal and later acted as a shareholder in a company owned by German real estate developer Tom Bock, providing a loan of nearly €5.5 million, suggesting that some of the funds used in the Turley real estate project in Mannheim, Germany, came from misappropriated funds from the 1MDB scandal.
