BERN (dpa-AFX) – In the corruption scandal involving the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, the Swiss public prosecutor’s office has accused two managers of the oil company Petrosaudi. She accuses them of embezzlement and money laundering in the amount of 1.8 billion dollars, as she reported on Tuesday. The crimes are believed to have occurred between 2009 and at least 2015.
The accused are said to have developed an alleged joint venture with a confidante of then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. The deal was brokered on a yacht in Cannes, France. Razak and a son of the late Saudi king would have taken part in it.
The accused are said to have smuggled millions of euros through Swiss accounts with Razak’s confidants. According to the public prosecutor’s office, they bought real estate in Switzerland and London, as well as jewelry and company shares, among other things. In Switzerland, 192 million francs were confiscated.
The investigations into the looting of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund have been going on in numerous countries for years. The US judicial authorities spoke of the “biggest case of kleptocracy to date”. A number of those involved have already been convicted. Ex-Prime Minister Razak received a 12-year prison sentence in his home country. Further proceedings are ongoing in Switzerland./oe/DP/zb