KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — Attorney-General (AG) Tan Sri Apandi Ali expressed his disappointment today that the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) did not inform or alert his office prior to its latest civil lawsuits against several assets.

Apandi said the action appeared to be a repeat of the first one last year, and insisted that there has been no cash misappropriated from sovereign fund 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“This second action comes on the anniversary of the first, and appears to be a repeat of it. We would like to express frustration that yet again AGC was not informed or alerted by DoJ of this action,” he said in a statement, referring to the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

“We also note that there has been no evidence from any investigation conducted by any law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions that shows that money has been misappropriated from 1MDB; and that there have been no criminal charges against any individuals for misappropriation of funds from 1MDB.”

Apandi said he was also concerned with insinuations of criminal wrongdoing against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“At no point in the civil claims is the Prime Minister named as a defendant or has been alleged to have committed any criminal wrong doing,” he said.

Najib’s press secretary Datuk Seri Tengku Sariffuddin Ahmad had earlier said that Putrajaya is also concerned with “unnecessary and gratuitous naming of certain matters and individuals”, accusing the move of going beyond seizing assets.

The DoJ is currently seeking to recover US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets — including artworks, jewellery and film rights — that it says were purchased with misappropriated funds.

In July 20 last year, the DoJ had led a civil lawsuit seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets linked to what it described as an “international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated” from 1MDB, the largest case ever brought by the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

US prosecutors said more than US$3.5 billion in 1MDB funds were allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of the local state investment firm and their associates between 2009 and 2015.