27 August 2016•Update: 28 August 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Some 1,000 people, mostly students, have taken to the streets of Malaysia's capital to demand the resignation of a figure named in a recent United States legal suit as "Malaysian Official 1".
"Malaysian Official 1" has been identified in the Department of Justice civil lawsuit as a government official with authority in indebted state wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), but he has not been publicly named.
The lawsuits do, however, say he is a high-ranking official who received some of the $3.5 billion misappropriated from the fund.
Saturday's rally -- named Capture Malaysian Official 1" -- was attended by students from various public education institution and private universities -- all of whom gathered in the capital's historical Independence Square.
The rally, which began at 2 p.m. (0600GMT) local time, ended three hours later without any official arrests.
Despite a targeted crowd of 5000, the attendance was estimated to be not more than 1000.
Last month, the U.S. DOJ filed a civil lawsuit seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than $1 billion in assets linked to what it described in a statement as an "international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated" from 1MDB.
It described the case as the largest case ever brought by the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, which found more than $3.5 billion in 1MDB funds were allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of the local state investment firm and their associates between 2009 and 2015.
The money was allegedly laundered through "complex transactions and fraudulent shell companies" with bank accounts in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the U.S.
1MDB -- a brainchild of Prime Minister Najib Razak -- was established in 2009 to undertake key development projects in capital Kuala Lumpur and spur Malaysia’s economic growth.
Since then, the fund has been hit by controversy revolving around the 50 billion Ringgit ($12.9 billion) in debts it has incurred since inception.
U.S. prosecutors allege that the 1MDB money was embezzled and laundered into the U.S., from where it was used to buy luxury properties, paintings by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, a $35 million jet, to pay off gambling debts in Las Vegas, to invest in EMI Music and to fund the production of 2013 Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street.
Among those named in the lawsuit were the movie's co-producer, and Razak's stepson Reza Aziz, a Malaysian businessman linked to Razak, Jho Low, and prominent Middle East businessmen Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
In July 2015, the Wall Street Journal and whistle blower site Sarawak Report released reports quoting documents, which they claimed to be from the ongoing 1MDB probe, claiming $700 million moved among 1MDB-linked government agencies, banks and entities before finally ending up in Razak’s personal accounts in five separate deposits.
Razak immediately said that he had not swindled funds for personal gain -- as alleged by political opponents -- be they from 1MDB, the finance ministry's SRC International -- a former 1MDB subsidiary -- or other entities.
A month later, the Attorney-General Chambers ruled that the funds were political donations to the Razak-led UMNO for the party to remain in power during the last general election.
Politicians within UMNO proudly declared that the funds came from "Middle East Royals" who wanted UMNO to retain control.
Razak, however, kept silent on the matter, saying political donations were confidential and he would only reveal the donors if opposition parties agreed to follow suit.
On Jan. 26, Malaysia’s Attorney General Apandi Ali ruled out wrongdoing by Razak in connection with the “political donation".
1MDB, meanwhile, has denied it was a party to the civil suit brought by the U.S. government.
It has also denied claims it had assets in the U.S., and underlined that it has not benefited from the various transactions described in the suit.
