KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — The Malaysian chapter of Transparency International (TI-M) lauded today the new Mahathir administration’s move to declassify investigation findings on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

TI-M president Datuk Akhbar Satar said the two-year-old findings in the Auditor-General’s report sealed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) would be useful to jumpstart action by authorities worldwide investigating the sovereign fund’s misappropriation case that he labelled the "mother of all scandals”.

"The 1MDB case, which can be said as mother of all scandals, need to be solved and all the money which has been transferred out of the country should be returned back to Malaysia.

"Those involved in this scandal, despite their positions, should be brought to justice and face the consequences in accordance with the rule of law,” he said in a statement.

Akhtar said the 1MDB scandal had tainted Malaysia’s image, and blamed it for the country’s slide in the annual TI Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Malaysia ranked 62nd out of 180 countries surveyed in the CPI last year in its worst ever grading since the index was introduced in 1995, putting it on par with Cuba, Romania and just behind Saudi Arabia, while Singapore moved up the ladder to sixth place.

In 2016, Malaysia was seven rungs higher, at 55th place out of 176 countries.

The country’s failure to resolve major corruption scandals was attributed for its dismal ranking, TI said, in February of Malaysia’s downward spiral.

Akhtar previously said that Malaysia’s rank would continue to fall until it resolves corruption cases like 1MDB and Felda.