Malaysia’s anti-graft agency yesterday ordered 80 people and groups to pay fines totaling about US$100 million for allegedly receiving funds from the 1MDB state investment fund.
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s brother Nazir Razak, who heads the nation’s second-largest bank, was among those listed. So was a former deputy minister, Ahmad Maslan, and the former chief of the Malaysian land development authority, Shahrir Samad.
Branches of Najib’s party and others in the former ruling coalition were also listed, as were 23 companies.
Najib is facing 42 charges of corruption, abuse of power and money laundering in five separate criminal cases linked to the 1MDB.
Public anger over the alleged graft contributed to a surprise defeat of Najib’s long-ruling coalition in elections last year.
Najib denies wrongdoing and has accused Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s government of seeking political vengeance.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission head Latheefa Koya told reporters that the fines totaled about 420 million Malaysian ringgit (US$100 million).
The money belongs to the Malaysian public, she said.
The fines could be as much as 2.5 times the amount each person or group allegedly received from 1MBD, she said.
“We have opened up investigations for all of these people,” Koya said. “We hope that by the time they receive this compound notice they will take it seriously and pay up.”
Najib set up 1MDB to promote economic development when he took office in 2009, but the fund amassed billions in debts and is being investigated in the US and several other countries for alleged cross-border embezzlement and money laundering.
US investigators say that more than US$4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB by associates of Najib from 2009 to 2014, including money in Najib’s bank accounts.
DEBT BREAK: Friedrich Merz has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to free up more money for defense and infrastructure at a time of growing geopolitical uncertainty Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz was set yesterday to defend his unprecedented plans to massively ramp up defense and infrastructure spending in the Bundestag as lawmakers begin debating the proposals. Merz unveiled the plans last week, vowing his center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) bloc and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) — in talks to form a coalition after last month’s elections — would quickly push them through before the end of the current legislature. Fraying Europe-US ties under US President Donald Trump have fueled calls for Germany, long dependent on the US security umbrella, to quickly
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
RSS