Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and a former subsidiary filed 22 lawsuits on Monday with the aim of recovering more than $ 23 billion in assets from entities and individuals who allegedly defrauded them.
Malaysia’s finance ministry said on Monday that the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund and a former subsidiary have filed 22 lawsuits to recover assets worth more than $ 23 billion from various institutions and individuals.
The 1MDB fund was created by former Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009, but accumulated billions in debt and sparked research in the United States and several other countries. U.S. investigators allege that more than $ 4.5 billion was stolen at 1 MBD and laundered by Najib associates.
Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government’s recovery efforts are now focused on “pursuing other criminals” who have caused losses to 1MDB and SRC International after successful settlements with US firm Goldman Sachs, AmBank Group of Malaysia and Deloitte PLT.
Earlier this month, 1MDB filed six lawsuits against nine entities, including two foreign financial institutions and 25 individuals, for various infractions, including breaches of trust, fraud and negligence. SRC filed 22 lawsuits against 15 people and eight entities for similar crimes.
Both companies argue that these entities and individuals were “unjustly enriched by receiving money unfairly from 1MDB or SRC,” the ministry said in a statement that did not name any of the entities or individuals.
“The government will not rest until all those involved are fully responsible for the offenses caused in the country through their participation” in 1MDB and SRC, Zafrul said in a statement.
Malaysia received a 10.5 billion ringgit ($ 2.5 billion) deal from Goldman Sachs last August. The ministry said the government will also receive 2.83 billion ringgit ($ 689 million) from the AmBank group and 336 million ringgit ($ 80 million) from Deloitte.
The 1MDB saga provoked public anger that led to the defeat of the Najib coalition for a long time in the 2018 elections. But this coalition has regained power by joining an unelected alliance that took over the ‘last year.
Najib was found guilty last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison in the first of several corruption trials related to the 1MDB scandal. Appeal the sentence.