KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is not one of the suspects in Switzerland’s criminal investigation on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the Swiss Attorney-General’s Office said.
Swiss Attorney-General Michael Lauber publicised Friday a request for Malaysia’s aid in his office’s probe on 1MDB that revealed suspected misappropriation of about US$4 billion (RM16.6 billion) from Malaysian state companies, as part of criminal proceedings that Switzerland opened last August against two former 1MDB officials and “persons unknown”.
“In the ongoing criminal proceeding of the OAG, Mr. Najib Razak is not one of the public officials under accusation,” Andre Marty, spokesman for the Office of the Attorney-General in Switzerland (OAG), told business publication Nikkei Asian Review.
Marty reportedly said in the Nikkei Asian Review report published yesterday that the term “persons unknown” in Swiss law referred to criminal proceedings where there was reasonable suspicion that an offence had been committed, but the accused was not known.
International newswire Reuters reported yesterday Singaporean authorities as saying that they have seized “a large number of” bank accounts, besides continuing to seek information from several financial institutions and interviewing various people, in an investigation on money laundering linked to 1MDB.
The state investment firm later said they have yet to be contacted by the Singaporean authorities.
