Malaysia raids office of fund in probe linked to premier

A Malaysian task force has frozen six bank accounts following allegations that Prime Minister Najib Razak received almost $700m in public funds.

KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) today said that it has provided a number of documents and materials to Task Force officials today to help them with the investigations during the raid at his headquarters at Menara 1MC here today.

The freeze orders did not involve any accounts allegedly held by Najib, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said on Wednesday in a statement.

The legal letter criticises the Wall Street Journal’s reports and asks the newspaper to clarify whether it is alleging that Mr Najib misappropriated funds from 1MDB, according to a copy obtained by Bloomberg News.

Najib has denied taking any money from 1MDB or other entities for personal gain.

He said in accordance with his wishes, his lawyers had asked the daily to confirm if the writers of the exposé had alleged misappropriation when they reported that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) had been transferred into his personal accounts. The Auditor- General said last week it completed an interim report and will submit it on July 9 to a parliamentary committee that’s also probing 1MDB.

Singapore’s central bank said on Wednesday it was in contact with financial institutions in relation to Malaysia’s probe and would provide assistance.

The ringgit was little changed Wednesday after it weakened below the 3.8 a dollar level this week at which it was pegged from 1998 to 2005.

Two calls and one e-mail to a spokeswoman for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co in Hong Kong were not answered.

“And WSJ must face all manner of legal action and prosecution”, Mr Lim added.

“I think the cabinet was very united in that we have to allow for due process to take its course”, Khairy Jamaluddin, the youth and sports minister, told reporters after a cabinet meeting in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya.

Prime Minister Najib has previously issued a statement on social media site Facebook saying that the various allegations made against him are “unsubstantiated” and “outrageous”.