IGP: Police will probe claims new MACC’s Shukri was threatened

PUTRAJAYA, May 22 ― Police will look into the allegation that the new Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Datuk Seri Shukri Abdull was threatened and intimidated when he investigated 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Minister of Home Affairs Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said the authorities will act if a report has been lodged on the matter.

The head of Malaysia’s anti-graft commission gave an emotional account earlier today, telling the press how he was harassed and threatened in 2015 while investigating the 1MDB state fund, and said that on one occasion a bullet was sent to his home.

“If there is a report then the authorities will have to look (and) investigate,” Muhyiddin told a press conference held on the first day at job as home minister.

Earlier today Shukri addressed a news conference after former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak arrived at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The Pekan MP was there to explain a suspicious transfer of RM42 million into his bank account.

The money was alleged to have been diverted from a 1MDB linked company.

Shukri said his agency had been poised to launch a case in 2015 against Najib but had been stopped in its tracks by the sacking of the attorney-general.

Recounting the events then, Shukri gave the most revealing account to date of the cover-up, describing how he got police protection during a visit to the United States after suspecting that he was being followed by Malaysian security officials.

The new MACC chief claimed the men that followed him acted under former IGP Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s orders.

When asked to verify, Fuzi said he was not aware but is willing to look into the allegation.

“I wasn’t aware because I was not (the IGP) then but I will look into it,” he told reporters at the same press conference.

Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing since the 1MDB scandal erupted in 2015, but he replaced an attorney-general and several MACC officers to shut down an initial investigation.

Najib has said US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) of funds deposited in his personal bank account were a donation from a Saudi royal, rebutting reports that the funds came from 1MDB.

Shukri said today there was no proof that the money was a donation.