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KUALA LUMPUR: Khairuddin Abu Hassan’s arrest on Friday evening has prevented him from a scheduled meeting with the US Federal Bureau of Investigations on Monday about 1Malaysia Development Bhd, according to his lawyer, Matthias Chang.
The appointment had been made with the help of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Chang was reported to have told the New York Times.
Khairuddin, one of the leading critics of prime minister Najib Razak, was arrested at his home in Mont Kiara here on Friday evening for allegedly being involved in an attempt to topple the government.
His wife, Umie Aida, in an online posting, said Khairudding was detained under provisions relating to “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.
Khairuddin himself had posted earlier on Friday that he had been blacklisted from going abroad. He said he was to take a flight to New York and London at 10.30am, but was barred from leaving and had been blacklisted by the Immigration Department under orders from federal police headquarters.
Blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin said Khairuddin’s arrest had come shortly before he was to have left by “a private jet belonging to a VVIP” which was standing by at Subang airport, fully-fuelled.
Raja Petra did not name the VVIP. However, Matthis Chiang is a long-time associate of former prime miniser Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been at the forefront of a year-long campaign to force Najib out of office.
Khairuddin is reported to have travelled to countries in Europe and Asia to push for investigations over alleged discrepancies of debt-ridden 1MDB. He is reported to have handed over evidence to Swiss authorities last month, calling for investigations into 1MDB’s financial transctions which are reported to have involved Swiss banks.
He had lodged police reports in Hong Kong, Britain, and France
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