Najib withdraws legal action against 1MDB investigators

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak (centre). (Source: AFP/VNA)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak has withdrawn his legal action against 1Malaysia Develop­ment Berhad’s (1MDB) top three investigators.

The three are Attorney General Tommy Thomas, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mission chief Mohd Shukri Abdull and Commercial Crime Investigation Division director Amar Singh Ishar Singh, the Star Online reported.

Najib’s lawyer Badrul Hisham Abdullah said the move was based on the grounds that the suit was filed before Najib was charged at the High Court with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power. “We need to realign the case as the scenario has changed,” he said.

On June 30, Najib filed the action against the three individuals separately after they affirmed that the former PM had misappropriated the 1MDB fund.

1MDB is an investment fund formed by then PM Najib Razak in 2009 with the aim of serving Malaysia’s development through global partnerships and foreign direct investment.

However, it became the centre of a money laundering scandal, allegedly causing losses of up to 3.7 billion USD and leading to probes into the financial markets in several countries such as the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia, and China.

Najib was accused for the loss of 3.7 billion USD in transactions with other countries through 1MDB.

Najib was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on July 3. He was charged by the Kuala Lumpur High Court with three counts of criminal breach of trust in his former posts as a prime minister and minister of finance, in association with the transfer of 42 million Malaysian ringgit (10 million USD) from SRC International, a subsidiary of the 1MBD, to his personal bank accounts between August 2011 and March 2015. He also faced one count of corruption.-VNA