KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — Senior officials who were removed in 2015 by the previous government for pursuing irregularities within 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) were offered at least RM3 million (S$1 million) to drop the case, according to a report.
Quoting sources, Singapore’s The Straits Times reported that one BN MP had been responsible for negotiating with investigators in an attempt to bury the case, and that this unnamed leader was a known fixer and bagman for the previous administration.
“The MP personally brought a bag full of cash and offered it to my boss. But in exchange, my superior would have to abandon the case,” a source told ST.
“After all efforts to get him to accept the offer were declined, my boss was removed. The intense harassment and death threats began instantly.”
Another source was quoted saying that the same MP had “advised” officials probing the case to move abroad and “live a lavish lifestyle” in exchange for their silence.
“Why waste your time and energy probing the case? With this money, you can build a new life’,” the source told ST, recounting what the BN MP allegedly said, adding that the latter had also offered monthly allowances and free lodging for the families of the officials.
This same source also claimed that the MP hired “a group of gangsters from a neighbouring country to intimidate” the families of the officers when they refused to comply.
Newly-reinstated Malaysian Anti Corruption Chief Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull claimed on Tuesday he received threats from a former member of Parliament when he was investigating the case back in 2015.
“I am not going to reveal who it is, but an MP from a northern state famously known as Cash King, approached me twice and asked me ‘what do you want?”.
“He told me if I were to mention the case again he would do everything in his power to get me arrested,” said Mohd Shukri.
