KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 6): Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah said the finance ministry has "no response" to requests by the Swiss Attorney-General's Office (OAG), which had reportedly asked the Malaysian authorities again to help gather evidence in a case against those accused of embezzling funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

"No response because that's not linked to 1MDB," he said when asked whether the finance ministry will respond to the Swiss authorities' suspicion that a Ponzi scheme had been set up to conceal the misappropriation of substantial amounts of money.

Yesterday, the OAG had issued a statement on its website saying it is lodging another request for Mutual Legal Assistance with the Malaysian Attorney-General's Chambers, for its investigations into alleged embezzlement and money laundering involving 1MDB. This was after an initial request in January went unanswered.

The OAG said some US$800 million appeared to have been misappropriated from investments in natural resources made by SRC International Sdn Bhd, hidden in part through the creation of a Ponzi scheme. SRC International, which is the former subsidiary of 1MDB, is now controlled by the finance ministry.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported Malaysia's Attorney-General's Office said today that it had yet to receive any request for additional assistance from Switzerland in probing 1MDB.

Earlier, Mohd Irwan said Budget 2017, which is due to be announced on Oct 21, will put more emphasis to propelling Malaysia towards digital economy, as digital economy is expected to contribute 20% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.

The digital economy now contributes 16.3% of the GDP.

"Budget 2017 will put focus on giving more to the rakyat. The digital economy is one of the aspects. [It] can uplift the B40 group (bottom 40% household income group) earning less than RM30,000, on how they can improve their income level through the digital economy," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Government Digital Transformation: Innovation Government 4.0 event, this morning.