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The US Department of Justice is seeking to recover US $ 300 million (RM1.2 billion) in additional assets allegedly associated with the 1MDB multi-billion dollar scandal, assets it has traced to an escrow account in the UK the agency said Wednesday.
Authorities in Malaysia and the United States estimate that $ 4.5 billion of 1MDB was stolen in an elaborate scheme that spread around the world and involved high-level officials in the background, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, executives of the US bank Goldman Sachs and others. Najib has denied wrongdoing.
In a complaint filed in the Central District of California on Wednesday, the Justice Department said the $ 300 million was attributable to a line of credit granted by Venezuela’s state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, to PetroSaudi Oil Services of Arabia. Saudi, in connection with an oil drilling. to venture.
The companies are already embroiled in a legal dispute over the funds that Malaysia’s high court has tried to freeze with the cooperation of the British authorities.
The Justice Department said it was also looking for four dozen movie promotional posters that Riza Aziz, a Hollywood producer and Razak’s stepson, acquired with more than $ 4 million in funds traceable to 1MDB’s embezzled assets.
Prosecutors dropped the money laundering charges against Aziz in May after reaching a settlement in which he agreed to help authorities recover assets related to 1 MBD.
Wednesday’s complaint brings the total value of assets the United States has sought to recover in connection with the scandal to $ 2.1 billion, the largest asset recovery action ever filed by the agency.
So far, the United States has recovered or helped Malaysia recover about $ 1.1 billion in assets.
– Reuters
