New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says Malaysia will seek to retrieve billions of dollars from a state investment fund believed to have been laundered in the United States, Switzerland and several other countries.
Mahathir reopened a probe into a massive corruption scandal surrounding the 1MDB fund after his alliance won a stunning election victory last week. Defeated leader Najib Razak started the fund in 2009 and U.S. investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen and laundered by Najib’s associates.
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Mahathir says an initial investigation shows the scale of wrongdoing by Najib’s administration was more serious than expected.
Mahathir said Wednesday that ousted Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail said he was preparing to file criminal charges against Najib when he was sacked in 2015.
