Kuala Lumpur: Swiss prosecutors have asked Malaysian authorities for a second time to help gather evidence in a case against those accused of embezzling funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. after an initial request in January went unanswered.
Some $800 million (Dh2.9 billion) in natural-resource investments from a Malaysian sovereign fund known as SRC appears to have been misappropriated, hidden in part through the creation of a Ponzi scheme, the Swiss Attorney-General’s office said Wednesday in a statement on its website. SRC International, a company that was linked to debt-ridden state investment company 1MDB, is now controlled by the Malaysian finance ministry.
Swiss, Singaporean and US prosecutors are digging into how more than $3.5 billion was diverted from 1MDB, which was intended to finance development projects across Malaysia. US prosecutors filed a request in July in California court to seize more than $1 billion in real estate, art and other luxury goods bought with allegedly stolen money.
The Swiss Attorney-General’s office said Wednesday it’s satisfied with the evidence it received from Singaporean authorities and noted that its January request for help from the Malaysians is still pending.
Malaysia’s Attorney General’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment, while a spokeswoman at the Ministry of Finance said she couldn’t immediately comment on the issue. 1MDB referred requests for comment to the attorney general’s office.
