PUTRAJAYA, July 24 ― The owner of a trading company, the third person to be arrested over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, has been remanded for four days starting today.
A spokesman from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) confirmed with reporters that the remand was granted by a Magistrate’s Court here and that the 28-year-old man is being investigated for the offence of “accepting gratification” under Section 16(a) of the MACC Act.
The spokesman added that the man was arrested at around 10.45pm last night.
Earlier today, a source told Malay Mail Online that a third man was nabbed to aid the special taskforce investigating 1MDB.
This morning, another man, who was the first to be arrested in connection with the 1MDB probe was released on police bail after his four-day remand expired.
The man, a director of a construction firm, is being investigated for the offence of “giving or accepting gratification by an agent” under Section 17(a) of the MACC Act.
The second man to be arrested, the director of Ihsan Perdana Trading Sdn Bhd, is also being investigated under the same Section 17 and was given five-day remand after his arrest on Wednesday.
The 1MDB special taskforce is currently investigating an alleged US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) money trail involving several companies that purportedly channeled the funds to what is believed to be Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bank accounts.
In a report last month, US-based daily Wall Street Journal, citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that a money trail showed that US$700 million were moved among government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.
The 1MDB taskforce involves the Attorney-General's Chambers, Bank Negara Malaysia, the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
