Former top cop files police report against AG

A former high-ranking police officer has filed a report accusing attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali of abuse of power in connection with the investigations into 1MDB.

This comes after the Attorney-General’s Chambers ordered that “no further action” (NFA) be taken on the former CID chief's police report on 1MDB lodged on Oct 24.

In his latest report - filed on Nov 21 - Mat Zain Ibrahim, who once headed the Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department (CID), states that the order not to act on his earlier report came from Apandi.

Malaysiakini has sighted a copy of a Nov 7 letter signed by current Kuala Lumpur CID chief Rusdi Mat Isa informing Mat Zain that the AG’s Chambers had classified his Oct 24 report as NFA required, effective Nov 1, about a week after the report was lodged.

The Oct 24 report, citing the US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil suit to retrieve US$1 billion of “stolen money” from Malaysia’s troubled sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, suggested there is “strong evidence” to investigate Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his younger brother, CIMB chairperson Nazir Razak.

In his Oct 24 police report, Mat Zain also implicated Nazir in a possible offence under Section 411 or Section 414 of the Penal Code, for allegedly “receiving or disposing of stolen properties”.

This follows Nazir’s admission to The Wall Street Journal that he received US$7 million from Najib and that he distributed it to ruling party politicians prior to the 13th general election.

Nazir had posted in Instagram then that he wished he had not helped his brother. "I understand the furore, and with hindsight, I wish I didn't (do it)," Nazir had written.

Also in his report, Mat Zain noted the DOJ claim that the US$681 million found in the account of ‘Malaysian Official 1' (MO1) originated from Tanore Finance, which is beneficially owned by Tan Kim Loong, an associate of businessman Jho Low.

The DOJ suit also named Jho Low, who is said to be close to Najib’s family, and the prime minister’s stepson Riza Aziz.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan confirmed that MO1 was Najib, but claimed that since the prime minister was not named, it indicated that he was not being investigated.

The prime minister has denied abusing public funds for personal gain while Nazir has also clarified his role, and he was subsequently cleared by an internal probe carried out by the bank.

The government has also denied any cover-up in the matter.

However, Mat Zain argued that if Apandi was certain that the US$681 million was a Saudi donation, he should have immediately filed an objection and demanded the DOJ to retract its claim, or that the Malaysian government should have filed a counter suit.

Besides this, he said, Apandi could also lodge a complaint with the US court against Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent Robert B Heuchling, who affirmed the DOJ suit, for perjury.

“Since none of the above were done, we can only assume that whatever the DOJ has filed is true and unrebutted,” Mat Zain told Malaysiakini.

Malaysiakini has texted Apandi on this latest allegation for his comments and is yet to receive his response.