1MDB: US Justice Dept recovers another US$20 million

THE US Justice Department announced last week the recovery of an additional US$20 million (RM94 million) in misappropriated funds linked to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

The department said the latest amount was recovered following an ongoing legal effort involving 43 civil forfeiture actions in the United States that have led to over US$1.7bil in assets seized.

In June last year, the DoJ said it had recovered, returned, and assisted in returning to Malaysia approximately US$1.4 billion (RM6.6 billion) which had been misappropriated.

At the time, the US embassy said the sum represented the fourth instalment of funds recovered from asset seizures related to the scandal-plagued state investment arm.

The department said the recovered funds were misappropriated from 1MDB between 2009 and 2015 by high-level officials and their associates, including fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

According to court documents, the funds were laundered through major financial institutions in the US, Switzerland, Singapore, and Luxembourg.

Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is currently on trial for misappropriating around RM2 billion from 1MDB. - January 20, 2025