Malaysia dissolves state fund advisory board over corruption

The Ministry also agreed to revoke veto power of Mr. Razak in the decision-making of the company, which he chairs, said a government statement.

May 05, 2016 11:11 am | Updated 11:16 am IST - Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak. File photo.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak. File photo.

The Malaysian Finance Ministry on Thursday accepted the resignation of the board of directors of 1MDB, the state fund accused of transferring millions of dollars to accounts of the Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Ministry also agreed to revoke veto power of Mr. Razak in the decision-making of the company, which he chairs, said a government statement.

The six board members of 1MDB had resigned a month ago, when a parliament committee criticised in a report the management of the fund set up in 2009 by Mr. Razak, the same year he became the Prime Minister.

1MDB accumulated a debt of $11 billion between 2009 and 2014.

The committee report said the board of directors had breached their responsibilities and recommended, among other things, the dissolution of the board headed by Mr. Razak as head of finance.

The 1MDB scandal broke out in the middle of last year when the Wall Street Journal and online news portal Sarawak Report had revealed that Mr. Razak had received $681 million in transfers made by 1MDB in his private bank accounts.

Subsequent information had raised the figure to more than $1 billion.

Mr. Najib and the company denied the accusations and after an investigation by the anti-corruption commission, the Attorney General of Malaysia exculpated the Prime Minister of any crime in January this year, attributing the money to a donation from the Royal family of Saudi Arabia.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.