Over RM23mil in 1MDB assets recovered between 2023 and February 2024
Published on: Thursday, February 08, 2024
By: FMT
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission says it will not stop in its endeavours to recover assets and funds linked to sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. (AP pic)
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia recovered more than RM23 million in assets and funds linked to 1MDB between 2023 and February 2024, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said today.
In a statement, the anti-graft agency said it had recovered the RM23,911,460.90 in assets and funds through forfeiture processes, court proceedings, and voluntary surrender from five people.
ADVERTISEMENT “From 2019 until now, RM29.03 billion worth of 1MDB assets have been returned to Malaysia,” it added.
MACC said RM556,275.64 was successfully recovered on Aug 30 last year from Nurzahid Taib, a 1MDB officer who received 1MDB funds for the Maximus and Catalyze projects which were deposited into the account of a company known as Turquoise Coast Offshore Incorporated, in which Nurzahid had shares.
Meanwhile, RM4,551,399.45 was returned to the government on Sept 29 last year through a voluntary surrender by Amhari Effendi, one of former prime minister Najib Razak’s special officers, through a fund transfer from BSI Bank Switzerland.
On Nov 8 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court issued an order for the forfeiture of three condominium units worth RM7.05 million owned by Kamal Yan Yahaya, Najib’s former foreign affairs adviser.
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MACC said the process to recover these assets began following the trial of former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng in the US, where he was charged with conspiring to misappropriate 1MDB funds.
Ng was repatriated to Malaysia in October to assist authorities in the ongoing 1MDB investigation. Last March, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a New York district court for his involvement in embezzling billions of dollars from 1MDB.
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A jury found Ng, Goldman’s former head of investment banking in Malaysia, guilty of helping his former boss, Tim Leissner, embezzle money from the fund, launder the proceeds and bribe government officials to win business.
In its statement, MACC said that on Monday, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered the assets belonging to two associates of fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, namely Jerome Lee Tak Loong and his wife, Koay Ying Ying, to be forfeited to the agency.
The assets in Malaysia and Singapore are worth a total of RM11,753,785.81. MACC did not provide details on the assets owned by Lee and Koay.
Last March, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the anti-graft agency had recovered about 70% of assets and funds linked to 1MDB, equivalent to about RM28.93 billion.
He said the anti-graft agency would not stop in its endeavours to recover the remaining 30% of assets and funds linked to the sovereign wealth fund.
Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted on seven counts of abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust involving RM42 million in funds belonging to SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary.
His prison sentence was commuted to six years by the Federal Territories Pardons Board last Friday, with his fine also reduced from RM210 million to RM50 million.
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