Malaysia’s central bank yesterday said it had urged the country’s attorney general to begin criminal prosecution of troubled fund 1MDB after completing its investigation, piling more pressure on Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who chairs the fund’s advisory board.
At the center of a political crisis over its debt of nearly 42 billion ringgit (US$11.5 billion) and alleged financial graft, 1MDB is the subject of several probes by different authorities, including Malaysia’s central bank.
The central bank’s statement comes just one day after Malaysia’s attorney general said that he had seen a report of the bank’s investigation and concluded that 1MDB officials had not committed any offense.
The attorney general, appointed by the prime minister in late July, also said that he had rejected a central bank request for a review of the decision.
In its statement, the central bank said 1MDB had secured permits for investment abroad based on inaccurate or incomplete disclosure of information, thus breaching domestic regulations.
The bank said that it had revoked three permits granted to 1MDB for investments abroad totalling US$1.83 billion and ordered the state fund to repatriate the funds to Malaysia.
In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that investigators looking into 1MDB had identified a payment of nearly US$700 million into a bank account under Najib’s name.
Reuters has not independently verified the report.
Najib has denied taking money for personal gain.
The central bank did not specify which permits were revoked or where it believed that the US$1.83 billion was being held.
Earlier this year, 1MDB said it redeemed US$1.1 billion from the Cayman Islands and parked it in BSI Bank Ltd Singapore, a local unit of Swiss asset manager BSI.
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