Goldman Sachs subpoenaed in 1MDB Malaysia probe

The Act, which comes into effect on 1 August, establishes a National Security Council to handle matters related to national security and will be headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Critics have accused Mr Najib and his government of enacting the law, and other tough recent legislation, to ward off political and legal challenges.

Now, if the Najib-led council declares a local state of emergency, security forces can impose curfews and are granted wide powers of arrest, seizure and use of force, for which they can also be granted immunity.

Meillan also expressed concern that the act could lead to “unjust restrictions” on free speech and assembly.

“With this new law, the government now has spurned checks and assumed potentially abusive powers”, said AI’s Southeast Asia and the Pacific deputy director Josef Benedict in a statement. It is being investigated in several countries including the U.S., Switzerland and Singapore.

Najib has stifled domestic pressure by cracking down on critics within his ruling party, scuttling investigations, and arresting whistleblowers and journalists.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has warned that a Malaysian security law that comes into force Monday will give the government “unchecked and abusive powers”.

“These provisions run counter to the requirement to investigate wrongdoing and hold institutions and their personnel accountable in the case of human rights violations”, said Laurent Meillan, OHCHR’s acting regional representative in Bangkok.

They are threatening to charge Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the respected former governor of the central bank, Bank Negara, Abdul Ghani Patail, fired from his post as attorney general when he was about to charge Najib, with crimes connected to 1MDB, and Abu Kassim Mohamed, the former head of the Malaysian Ant-Corruption Commission, for supposedly providing information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Wall Street bank’s work with 1MDB is under the spotlight after the USA government alleged this month that billions of dollars were diverted from bond deals arranged by Goldman for the personal use of officials and some people associated with the state fund.

Najib came into office in 2009 pledging an end to ruling-party graft and authoritarianism, but he has dramatically reversed course following a 2013 election setback and the 1MDB scandal.

The law reportedly gives extensive emergency powers to embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak and it could interfere with human rights, while giving him the right to act with impunity.

An unprecedented security law will come into force in Malaysia today amid growing controversy over the prime ministership.

Najib’s ruling party has tightly controlled Malaysia since 1957 but increasingly faces accusations of corruption and repression.