US to recover another US$20mil in stolen 1MDB funds

US to recover another US$20mil in stolen 1MDB funds

In June last year, it was reported that the US justice department had returned approximately RM6.6 billion in misappropriated funds.

1mdb
1MDB was a sovereign fund set up in 2009 to promote economic development. (AFP pic)
PETALING JAYA:
The United States has agreed to recover an additional US$20 million in misappropriated 1MDB funds.

This was revealed by the US department of justice (DoJ) in a statement last week.

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.

In 2020, the DoJ said it was seeking to recover US$96 million in assets linked to 1MDB.

1MDB was a sovereign fund set up in 2009 with the help of financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, to promote economic development. It was co-founded by Najib Razak, who was prime minister from 2009 to 2018.

It went on to raise billions of dollars in bonds for investment projects and joint ventures.

However, the DoJ discovered that some US$4.5 billion of the funds had been diverted to offshore bank accounts and shell companies, many linked to Low, who was last reported to be hiding in Macau.

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