[ad_1]
PETALING JAYA: US federal prosecutors are ready to indict a Republican fundraiser for alleged efforts to influence the US government on behalf of foreign interests, including the 1MDB scandal.
According to a Washington Post report citing sources, Elliott Broidy is under investigation for his alleged role in a campaign to persuade senior officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump to drop the 1MDB investigations.
He is also under scrutiny for pushing for the extradition of Guo Wengui, a vocal critic of Beijing, back to China.
The case against Broidy has escalated in recent weeks after prosecutors obtained a guilty plea from one of his associates, a woman named Nickie Mali Lum Davis.
Davis has admitted to participating in what prosecutors call a “secondary channel lobbying campaign” to end the 1MDB investigation and return the Chinese exile Guo to his home country.
The report says that, according to court documents filed on Davis’s guilty plea, Broidy allegedly lobbied for Guo to be deported from the United States at the request of Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and an unidentified Chinese government official. .
Low is a central figure in the 1MDB scandal. He is accused of funneling tens of millions of dollars as part of efforts to have the 1MDB case dropped.
The fugitive businessman, believed to be in China, has denied the accusations against him.
According to the report, Davis acknowledged that he helped send an $ 8 million advance to Broidy for the “campaign” and that Low offered a $ 75 million bonus as part of the contract with Broidy’s wife’s law firm if it was resolved. the 1MDB case. within 180 days.
Documents in Davis’s plea show that Broidy sent a message to former Trump campaign vice president Rick Gates and then-chief of staff Reince Priebus in 2017 about arranging a visit for former Prime Minister Najib Razak and a possible golf session with Trump.
Najib visited Trump but did not play golf, and according to court documents, the meeting was “in part intended” so Najib could pressure Trump to end the 1MDB case.
