KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 ― Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah has said that every country that is connected to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal has been cooperative.
Speaking to business news outfit Bloomberg, Saifuddin said a “closure” for the matter would not only involve getting back the funds involved, but also to hold everyone guilty accountable.
“I think this is a case where not only Malaysians but everyone around the globe wants to see a closure,” he was quoted saying in the Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia show.
“The closure is of course not just about bringing back assets and money and what have you, but to ensure some people responsible have to be punished.”
1MDB has been labelled the “largest kleptocracy case” globally, with investigations on the matter currently being carried out in 12 nations.
In its civil suits, the United States Department of Justice said that more than US$4.5 billion (RM18 billion) was stolen from 1MDB by high-level officials at the fund and their associates between 2009 and 2015.
Last week, former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng officially abandoned his action against his extradition to the US and will head there to stand trial over charges related to the 1MDB scandal.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was scheduled to face his first 1MDB-related trial last week but the Court of Appeal had unanimously allowed Najib’s application to stay the trial, until the end of an appeal linked to the case’s transfer from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
