PUTRAJAYA, Oct 7 — The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has issued compound notices against individuals and entities that allegedly received funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
The compounds were made against 80 individuals, companies, political parties, foundations and organisations over a combined RM420 million.
“We have issued compound notices for the purpose to get them to pay the fine which can be up to two and a half times the amount they received.
“We’ve opened investigation papers against all of them and they have two weeks to pay up which we hope they will,” said MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya during a press conference in Putrajaya.
Latheefa said the MACC opened investigations against the 80 recipients as it has determined there was an element of corruption in these entities who received money from 1MDB.
She also said all the money was received through cheques and the MACC has a paper trail to support its claim.
She added that failure to pay the compound will result in prosecution under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) Section 92 subsection 2.
Section 92 subsection 2 reads: An offer can be made at any time after the offence has been committed and where the amount specified in the offer is not paid within the time specified in the offer or such extended time a competent authority may grant, the prosecution for the offence may be instituted at any time after that against the person for whom the offer was made.
Among the 80 names listed by the MACC were former CIMB chairman, Datuk Seri Nazir Abdul Razak; Pontian MP Datuk Ahmad Maslan; former domestic trade and consumers affairs minister Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad; Cense director and CEO Soong Fui Kiun; property developer Lim Soon Peng; and former political secretary to Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tan Sri Mohamad Fatmi Che Salleh.
Besides that, political parties such as MCA, MIC and Parti Rakyat Sarawak were listed as having received the illicit funds, along with 23 branches of Umno and five from Barisan Nasional.
Latheefa said the company which received the most money from 1MDB was Solar Shine Sdn Bhd to the tune of RM134 million.
A Google search revealed Solar Shine to be an organiser of events and other related services which was established in Selangor in year 2000.
“The individuals or entities on their own we’re looking at someone who would have received as low as RM500,000 and as high as, for an individual, RM25 million or an entity that would have received RM134 million.”
Latheefa also explained the difference between a civil forfeiture and a compound notice as in June this year, the MACC had filed a civil forfeiture against 41recipients to recover RM270 million from 1MDB case.
“The difference between the civil forfeiture and the compound we issued is we trailed where the money from the 41 last time and found there was money in the accounts and we froze those accounts.
“From then, within 12 months, we decided to forfeit the money when they were unable to explain where the money came from.
“In this case, when someone has committed an offence under AMLA, we have the power to issue a compound notice where you’re given time to pay up — in this case two weeks.
“It can be as low as the amount received or two-and-a-half times more the amount received,” said Latheefa.
Latheefa didn’t speculate what punishment would befall those who don’t pay the fines but promised the MACC will use everything within its powers to prosecute them.
