Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Is Malaysia's Prime Minister at the Centre of a Billion Dollar Corruption Lawsuit in America?


This ‘Malaysian Official 1′ meme adopts the logo of 1Malaysia, a program of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Source: Facebook

After the Department of Justice in the United States filed lawsuits accusing Malaysian officials and their associates of laundering more than one billion US dollars through American institutions, Malaysians are wondering if ‘Malaysian Official 1,’ who is cited 36 times in the 136-page lawsuit, is actually their prime minister Najib Razak.

The Prime Minister controls the 1Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB) investment firm, which is at the centre of the lawsuit. His stepson is also one of the accused. The lawsuit aims to recover 17 assets in the US, which have allegedly been acquired through 1MDB funds. The lawsuits claims 1MDB funds were spent on hotels, fine art, luxury real estate in New York, Los Angeles, and London, and even on the 2013 Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

This is not the first time that Najib Razak's name has been implicated in a corruption scandal. Previously, he has been accused of pocketing more than 600 million dollars through anomalous transactions. After he was linked to several large dollar bank accounts, he claimed the funds were a political donation from a royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Read more on Global Voices

Related news :

Van Gogh and Monet paintings seized in 1MDB corruption investigation 

US rejects account of how millions got to Najib

Malaysia has been betrayed by Prime Minister Najib Razak

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