KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Tan Sri Annuar Musa has accused local Opposition politicians and “their proxies” of briefing the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), following the latter’s recent lawsuit to seize assets allegedly linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The Umno information chief, the move was ostensibly taken by the Opposition to divert attention from the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the multibillion ringgit foreign exchange losses of the late 1980s that he said would implicate Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“It was the opposition ‎and their proxies who briefed DoJ, shamefully and treasonously calling for foreign intervention in our sovereign democratic nation just to serve their selfish political agenda.

“The opposition are trying to manipulate the DoJ report to shift the focus away from the forex RCI and from the internal crisis of confidence with the leadership of Pribumi,” Annuar said in a statement, referring to Dr Mahathir’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM).

Annuar did not provide any proof of the alleged briefing with DoJ.

The Bank Negara Malaysia foreign exchange scandal was among the biggest when Dr Mahathir was prime minister but remained unresolved till he resigned in October 2003.

The Ketereh MP said the diversion was devised since the Opposition knows it cannot afford to lose PPBM chairman Dr Mahathir ahead of the next general elections.

“They know that, if the facts come out, the people would see the opposition and its leadership for what they really are. This could cause huge damage to them in the election,” he said.

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