Saying Bersih’s campaign was clearly about efforts to recover assets stolen from 1MDB and return them to the people, Maria added that Faisal had confused the issues and was making “wild allegations”.
The campaign, which is jointly led by Bersih and the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), includes 110 other NGOs.
It is to ensure that confiscated illegal gains from money laundered from 1MDB funds in Switzerland can be recovered.
Yesterday, Faisal had cited the campaign as an example of how social media was being used to spread political hate, The Malaysian Insight reported.
However, Maria said it had nothing to do with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) case as it involved money laundering in Switzerland.
“This issue began last year when Switzerland’s chief prosecutor conducted a criminal investigation into state fund 1MDB and found that approximately US$4 billion appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies,” she said in a statement.
“The Swiss attorney-general has since made two requests to the government and 1MDB to seek ‘mutual legal assistance’ but failed to receive any positive response from the Malaysian government.
“Nevertheless, the Swiss Attorney-General’s Office has pushed ahead with investigations and is currently gathering sufficient evidence to take appropriate action.
“Subsequently, the Swiss financial regulatory body, Finma, punished three Swiss banks for serious breaches of money laundering regulations and has confiscated a total of 104 million Swiss francs (RM433 million) in illicit gains from money laundering related to the 1MDB scandal,” she said.
Reiterating that the campaign was not about inciting hatred against the government, as Faisal had claimed, she said it was being carried out in defence of good governance and in the country’s interests.
“This is not about threatening the peace of the country, but rather an investment in the peace and security of the citizens,” she added.
In April, Swiss Attorney-General Michael Lauber said the money laundering investigation into 1MDB was making progress despite Malaysian authorities’ refusal to cooperate.
“We’re still confident we can successfully conclude the process… in particular the open cases against the two banks,” he said, referring to Swiss private banks BSI and Falcon which have already had to pay out in the case.
Maria said the civil society groups wanted the funds, which belonged to Malaysians, to be used for the people.
“We do not want it to be returned to the present government because they are seemingly complicit in suppressing any attempts to raise questions related to the 1MDB scandal.”
She added that the attorney-general’s decision not to prosecute Bersih clearly absolved it of any allegations of wrongdoing.
“Jasa should learn to keep up with the news and not engage in false news as well as irresponsibly spewing hatred against civil society organisations.
“It is such behaviour that is a threat to democracy and those working to advance democracy in Malaysia.”
She also called on Jasa to work with the NGOs to recover all stolen assets that rightfully belong to Malaysians, saying this would illustrate that they had no malice or intention to instigate fear mongering along racial divides.
Swiss making progress in 1MDB case despite Malaysia’s silence