US returns US$156 million in looted 1MDB funds to Malaysia

The latest tranche is the fourth made by Washington, raising the total amount repatriated to the Southeast Asian nation to around US$1.4 billion

Reading Time:2 minutes

The US Justice Department has described the 1MDB scandal as the largest kleptocracy case it had ever uncovered. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:10pm, 14 Jun 2024

The US government has returned US$156 million to Malaysia recovered from assets seized in investigations into scandal-riddled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), as officials in both nations continue to unravel a global conspiracy that bilked billions of dollars from the Malaysian public.

Malaysian and US investigators have estimated that at least US$4.5 billion was moved to a web of overseas accounts through 1MDB since it was founded in 2009 by disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak.

The US Justice Department has described the corruption as the largest kleptocracy case it had ever uncovered.

Najib, who lost the 2018 national election on the back of popular anger over 1MDB and allegations of rampant corruption in his government, was jailed in 2022 for graft linked to a former unit of the state fund.

The latest return of 1MDB funds to Malaysia is the fourth made by the US government, raising the total amount recovered and repatriated to the Southeast Asian nation to around US$1.4 billion, US Ambassador to Malaysia Edgard D Kagan said.

“We are very happy that this fourth tranche of assets from the Justice Department investigations is being transferred back to Malaysia,” Kagan said in a statement released by the US embassy to Malaysia on Thursday.

“This extraordinary sum of money is going back to the people of Malaysia where it belongs and where it can finally be used for its original purpose – to better the lives of everyday Malaysians.”