(August 3): The deputy chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has denied being told to go on a break while awaiting probe into a subsidiary of troubled state firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), The Star reports.
Instead, Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull said he was abroad for work.
“My officers are well trained and very committed. They can do their work without any instructions from me,” he said in the report.
Last month, Shukri said MACC had opened investigation papers on SRC International Sdn Bhd and found elements warranting an investigation.
The company was implicated in The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) report about some US$700 million ending up in the personal bank accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The company's accounts were allegedly used to channel RM42 million to Najib's accounts in late 2014 and early 2015.
SRC was a former 1MDB subsidiary, before it was taken off its books and absorbed under the Finance Ministry in 2012.
The company already attracted controversy before as it took a RM4 billion loan from Retirement Fund Incorporated in 2011, before it was absorbed under the ministry.
The money remains unaccounted for, with only sparse details available about investment in coal mines in Mongolia, and other unspecified investments.
The Star also quoted Special Branch director, Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun as saying the department had nothing to do with Saturday's raid on MACC.
“We are not involved as the investigation on 1MDB is led by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).”
The Malaysian Insider had quoted sources as saying that Special Branch officers spent two hours in the office of MACC deputy public prosecutor, Ahmad Sazilee Abdul Khairy, taking documents related to investigations into 1MDB.
Sazilee, who is on secondment to MACC from the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC), was arrested together with Tan Sri Rashpal Singh, a former MACC adviser, and Jessica Gurmit Kaur, an officer with AGC.
Police said they were investigating alleged leaks of official information to foreigners. – The Malaysian Insider