Malaysian PM says referred ‘wild allegations’ against him to lawyers

The team obtained documents related to 17 accounts from two banks, the attorney general’s office said in a statement issued jointly with the central bank, police and anti-corruption commission.

“The police arrived at 9.40am and conducted investigation in a very thorough manner”, he said, adding that 1MDB was extending its full cooperation to the authorities.

The Guardian was not able to independently verify the documents.

Mr Najib denied taking any money from 1MDB or any other entity for personal gain.

1MDB, a property-to-energy group whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, is facing criticism over its debt of almost 42 billion ringgit and alleged financial mismanagement.

None of the six bank accounts ordered frozen in the on-going probe into allegations of financial discrepancies in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) accounts belonged to the prime minister, the AG said.

(MENAFN – The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Malaysian opposition figures have called on Prime Minister Najib Razak to take leave from all government positions until he is cleared of allegations that he pocketed 700 million in public funds.

The Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who is part of a special task force probing 1MDB, said the documents were already the subject matter of an investigation.

It was the first time Najib has been directly implicated in the investigation into 1MDB, which is weighed down by an estimated $11bn of debt. The worldwide business daily said it possessed “solid” documents to back its claim.

Ooi Chin Hock, a dealer with M & A Securities, said the cloud over the prime minister and his failure to respond specifically to the allegations were causing uncertainty.

It was formed to probe allegations reported by The Wall Street Journal on July 2 that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) had been transferred to Najib’s accounts in AmBank in Kuala Lumpur. It said the two largest transactions, worth $620 million and $61 million, were made in 2013 from a company registered in the British Virgin Islands via a Swiss bank.

These investigators acted even though the anticorruption agency comes under the purview of the Ministry of Finance, and Najib is the minister of finance, as well as the prime minister; and the investigation occurred even though the governing coalition wields vast political power, having ruled Malaysia since independence.

He said he had consulted his lawyers, who would advise him on the next course of action. An aide to the prime minister said Najib would make a statement later Sunday, but didn’t give details.

Mr. Najib is also struggling to fend off a persistent campaign for his ouster by influential former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.