Malaysia’s scandal-hit 1MDB sues AmiCorp, seeks $1 billion for alleged fraud | corruption news
Scam-hit fund says AmiCorp ‘played a key role’ in facilitating the laundering of more than $7 billion.
Malaysia scam-hit 1Malaysia Development Berhad Fund has said it will fine corporate services provider AmiCorp Group and its CEO Toin Nipping $1 billion for allegedly facilitating more than $7 billion in fraudulent transactions over a five-year period. Will sue for more than Rs.
Bankrupt 1MDB alleges that AmiCorp, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, orchestrated and managed a complex conspiracy consisting of shell companies, sham transactions and layers of fraudulent financial structures that obscured the true origin and destination of the funds.
“We are taking this action to seek justice for the role we allege AmiCorp played in facilitating the laundering and destruction of billions of dollars of stolen funds,” 1MDB said in a statement on Monday. Has played.”
It highlighted that AmiCorp “played a significant role in defrauding the Sovereign Wealth Fund by facilitating the laundering of more than $7 billion of misappropriated funds between 2009 and 2014”.
1MDB said the stolen funds were allegedly routed through Singapore, Barbados, Curacao, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.
It further alleged that AmiCorp provided access to the global financial system through AmiCorp Bank, which is registered in Barbados, and provided fund institutions and banking services to allow repeated rotation of assets, creating the impression that What happened was that 1MDB’s assets were invested and while the returns were generated they were actually misused.
The Malaysian fund said it is seeking compensation for losses suffered by AmiCorp’s “dishonest” assistance in breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy to commit unlawful acts, adding the legal action was part of a global effort to recover stolen 1MDB assets .
Last week, a Malaysian court approved the government’s application to block PetroSaudi International and its chief executive from accessing $340m linked to 1MDB.
The Malaysian decision came after Tarek Obaid, the Swiss-Saudi chief executive of the oil exploration and production company, was sentenced to seven years in prison in Switzerland in August for embezzling $1.8 billion from 1MDB.
The billion-dollar financial scandal has led to years of criminal investigations around the world, including in the United States, Switzerland and Singapore.
Malaysian and US investigators previously estimated that $4.5 billion had been laundered from 1MDB by multiple people since its founding in 2009 and was used to buy items ranging from artwork to superyachts.
The scam also led to the fall of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s government in 2018. Najib is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for corruption related to a major financial scandal at 1MDB.
He has filed an appeal to serve the remaining sentence under house arrest and the hearing on this has been fixed for January 6.
