Putrajaya reactivates 4-body 1MDB special task force
FMT Reporters | May 21, 2018
The task force was abruptly ended in 2015 after then AG Abdul Gani Patail was replaced with Mohamad Apandi Ali.
UPDATED
Task force chiefs (from left): Abdul Gani Patail, Abu Kassim Mohamed, Mohd Shukri Abdull and Abdul Hamid Bador.
KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today announced the return of the special task force to investigate 1MDB, three years after it was abruptly ended following the appointment of Mohamed Apandi Ali as the attorney-general.
The revived team retains two of its former members as joint heads: Apandi’s predecessor Abdul Gani Patail and former chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Abu Kassim Mohamed.
Two others are newly appointed MACC chief Mohd Shukri Abdull and former Special Branch deputy director, Abdul Hamid Bador.
In a statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said the task force consisted of the MACC, police, the Attorney-General’s Chambers and Bank Negara Malaysia.
The previous task force was set up in March 2015, about three months before a Wall Street Journal report leaked documents showing some US$700 million was deposited into then prime minister Najib Razak’s private bank accounts in 2013.
On July 28 that year, Putrajaya announced that Gani was no longer the AG, with Najib announcing a Cabinet reshuffle that saw the removal of his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and rural development minister Shafie Apdal. The task force was subsequently disbanded, with Apandi clearing Najib of any wrongdoings in receiving huge funds into his accounts.
In its statement today, Putrajaya said the special team would be tasked with investigations, financial tracking and asset acquisition linked to the loss of funds from 1MDB both in and outside the country.
“This special team will also be responsible to get cooperation from multiple enforcement agencies in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada and other relevant countries,” it said, adding that it hoped the fresh probe would “restore the nation’s reputation that has so far been damaged and return the money and assets of the Malaysian people following the kleptocracy scandal caused by abuses and embezzlement of 1MDB funds”.
