Paul Stadlen is charged with money laundering.(Photo: Malaymail.com)
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia has issued an arrest warrant forPaul Stadlen, a British citizen who worked for former Prime Minister NajibRazak as a media adviser, for money laundering charges, a prosecutor said onFebruary 21.
According to prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib, Stadlen is alledged to havelaundered 14.3 million MYR (3.5 million USD) in proceeds from illegalactivities that had been deposited in the client account of a law firm withlinks to Najib.
Stadlen is accused ofoverseeing the transfer of funds from the account to several companies andindividuals between June 2014 and August 2015.
The warrant has been sent to Interpol, said the prosecutor.
In response to the charges, Mishcon de Reya, the London-based law firmrepresenting Stadlen, described the charges against him aspolitically-motivated.
Najib was ousted in a general election on May 9, 2018 amid widespread publicanger over a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal at state fund, 1MalaysiaDevelopment Berhad (1MDB).
In November last year, the anti-corruption investigators issued a noticecalling for Stadlen to assist in their 1MDB probe. Media reports say he leftMalaysia shortly after Najib’s defeat in the election.
At least sixcountries are investigating the 1MDB case, a state fund founded by Najib in2009. Malaysian and US investigators said that some 4.5 billion USD was siphonedfrom the fund and about 1 billion USD made its way into Najib’s personal bankaccounts.
Najib has been hit with 42 criminal charges since the election in 2018, most ofwhich are linked to the 1MDB fund. –VNA
VNA
