It took a year in coming, but now that the United States Department of Justice indictment on 1MDB has been laid before the courts its impact can only be described as earth-shattering for Malaysia – and utter vindication for Sarawak Report.
The joint investigation by the ‘Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Unit’ together with the FBI was personally presented at a Press Conference by the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who described the investigation into 1MDB as the “largest single action ever by the Kleptocracy Asset Initiative” and a “significant step in our ongoing work to combat global corruption and to ensure that the United States offers no safe haven to those who illegally use public funds for private gain“
The asset recovery indictment accuses Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak directly of having received hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from 1MDB into his private account.
Most significantly of all it puts paid to the claim that the notorious $681 million paid into Najib’s account in 2013 was a “donation” from a Saudi Royal.
To the contrary, the DOJ spells out in excruciating detail how this money was transferred not from a Saudi Royal, but from 1MDB, via Tanore Finance Corporation and into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s KL bank account.
And in a broad sweep of over a billion dollars worth of confiscated assets are included all the receipts from his step-son’s film Wolf of Wall Street, along with a string of properties and possessions held by Riza Aziz, Jho Low and their accomplice Khadem Al Qubaisi in the United States.
“Corrupt officials transferred money using a series of transactions involving more shell companies and bank accounts located all over the globe.
And in a broad sweep of over a billion dollars worth of confiscated assets are included all the receipts from his step-son’s film Wolf of Wall Street, along with a string of properties and possessions held by Riza Aziz, Jho Low and their accomplice Khadem Al Qubaisi in the United States.
“Corrupt officials transferred money using a series of transactions involving more shell companies and bank accounts located all over the globe.
Eventually more than $230 million of that found found its way in the account of shell companies whose beneficial owner was a close relative of a senior 1MDB official and that individual used money to buy luxury real estate in the United States and other assets and also used that money to fund a motion picture company called Red Granite Pictures who in turn used more than $100 million to finance the award-winning film The Wolf of Wall Street.
Of course, neither 1MDB nor the Malaysian people saw a penny of profit from that film or the other assets purchased with funds siphoned from 1MDB.
Instead that money went to associates of the corrupt officials at 1MDB and others” added Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell in a follow up speech, in a clear reference to Najib and his step-son Riza Aziz.
Altogether, the indictment says, the Prime Minister’s agent Jho Low “laundered” approximately $368 million of 1MDB’s funds through the United States, through the assets it has now frozen.
“The $1 billion in assets that we’re discussing today are just a portion of the more than $3 billion that was stolen from 1MDB and laundered through American institutions in violation of the law.
Altogether, the indictment says, the Prime Minister’s agent Jho Low “laundered” approximately $368 million of 1MDB’s funds through the United States, through the assets it has now frozen.
“The $1 billion in assets that we’re discussing today are just a portion of the more than $3 billion that was stolen from 1MDB and laundered through American institutions in violation of the law.
1MDB was created to promote economic development… unfortunately and tragically a number of corrupt officials treated this public trust as a personal bank account”
There is no mistaking from this indictment that she is referring above all to Malaysia’s Prime Minister (Najib Razak) himself.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was also on stage to outline the disgusting excesses of the thieves from 1MDB and explained why the United States has taken such strong and decisive action against the Malaysian fund:
“They used the money to pay gambling debts at Las Vegas casinos, they rented luxury yachts, they hired an interior decorator in London and spent millions on property… among the purchases was a jet for the purchase price of $35 million."
So why does this matter so much to us?
There is no mistaking from this indictment that she is referring above all to Malaysia’s Prime Minister (Najib Razak) himself.
FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was also on stage to outline the disgusting excesses of the thieves from 1MDB and explained why the United States has taken such strong and decisive action against the Malaysian fund:
“They used the money to pay gambling debts at Las Vegas casinos, they rented luxury yachts, they hired an interior decorator in London and spent millions on property… among the purchases was a jet for the purchase price of $35 million."
So why does this matter so much to us?
Certainly there’s a lot going on in the world right now, terrorist attacks, violent crime and serious threats to American citizens and people around the world.
Why does the corruption case halfway round the world matter so much to us here today?
Well, I’ll tell you for a few reasons.
First, because some of the profits of these schemes were invested in the United States, and when corrupt officials bring their ill-gotten gains to the United States, they also bring with they also bring with them their corrupt practices and disregard for the rule of law and that presents a threat to our economy and impacts trade and investment and fuels the growth of criminal enterprises and undermines our fair democratic processes…”
The FBI provides for the first time devastating and damning evidence of the purpose of the 1MDB thefts, which was to pass money to the man in charge who was Najib Razak.
The indictment (available in full at the base of this article) describes the PM as ‘Malaysian Public Official Number 1′:
No mistaking who Malaysian Public Official Number 1 might be!
From the very start the accusation is made that money was stolen from 1MDB, using several schemes and phases, listed as the 1) The Good Star Phase 2) The Aabar/BVI Phase and 3) The Tanore Phase.
Dealing with the Good Star Phase and PetroSaudi the indictment makes immediately clear that the claims by 1MDB and oil firm PetroSaudi that Good Star belonged to the latter were lies , The Feds confirm that the firm belongs to Jho Low, who siphoned first US$700 million out of the joint venture and later US$330 million, all under false pretences.
Dealing with the Good Star Phase and PetroSaudi the indictment makes immediately clear that the claims by 1MDB and oil firm PetroSaudi that Good Star belonged to the latter were lies , The Feds confirm that the firm belongs to Jho Low, who siphoned first US$700 million out of the joint venture and later US$330 million, all under false pretences.
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