Malaysia’s 1MDB seeks $1.35b from Amicorp for alleged fraud
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Malaysia says it has recovered 27.17 billion ringgit (S$8.2 billion) linked to the 1MDB scandal as of September.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KUALA LUMPUR – Scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1MDB said on Dec 23 it has filed a legal claim of more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) against corporate services provider Amicorp Group and its chief executive, alleging that the firm knowingly facilitated over US$7 billion in fraudulent transactions.
The claim, one of the biggest filed by 1MDB related to the multibillion-dollar graft scandal, was filed in the British Virgin Islands against eight Amicorp entities and its CEO Toine Knipping, alleging that they played a vital role in enabling the sovereign wealth fund to be defrauded between 2009 and 2014, 1MDB said in a statement.
Malaysian and US investigators previously estimated US$4.5 billion was siphoned away from 1MDB following its inception in 2009, implicating former prime minister Najib Razak, Goldman Sachs staff and high-level officials elsewhere.
Najib is currently in prison but has denied wrongdoing
1MDB alleges that Hong Kong-headquartered Amicorp created and managed a complex conspiracy consisting of layers of shell companies, sham transactions and fraudulent financial structures that obscured the true origin and destination of the funds.
Stolen funds were purportedly routed through Singapore, Barbados, Curacao, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, 1MDB said.
It further alleged that Amicorp provided access to the global financial system through Amicorp Bank, a bank registered in Barbados, and provided fund entities and banking services to allow the repeated cycling of assets, giving the impression that 1MDB’s assets were invested and generated returns when in fact they were misappropriated.
1MDB said it is seeking damages for the losses it incurred from Amicorp’s “dishonest” assistance in breaches of fiduciary duty and conspiracy to commit unlawful acts, adding the legal action was part of a global effort to recover stolen 1MDB assets.
“There is, in our view, strong evidence to suggest that Amicorp – at the highest levels – knew they were involved in a dishonest and illegal money laundering scheme designed to transfer large sums of cash away from its intended beneficiary – the people of Malaysia,” a spokesman for 1MDB said in the statement.
As at September 2024, Malaysia had recovered RM27.17 billion (S$8.2 billion) linked to 1MDB, state news agency Bernama reported. REUTERS
