Swiss open criminal proceedings linked to 1MDB
The Swiss Office of the Attorney General has opened criminal proceedings relating to Malaysia's troubled state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
“The Office of the Attorney GeneralExternal link confirms that, on August 14, 2015, it opened a criminal procedure against two entities of 1MDB as well as against an unknown person,” a spokesman said in an email quoted on Reuters.
The case involved “suspected corruption of public foreign officials, dishonest management of public interests and money laundering”, he said.
The criminal proceedings follow two communications from the Money Laundering Reporting Office Switzerland (MROS), the spokesman added.
News of the investigation was first reported by Swiss newspaper Le TempsExternal link.
Swiss financial regulator FINMA External linksaid on Wednesday that it was checking with some of the country’s banks whether they carried out business with 1MDB.
1MDB, whose advisory board is chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak, was the subject of a probe by Malaysia’s central bank which was completed earlier this month. The fund has been dogged by controversy over its $11 billion (CHF10.4 billion) debt and alleged financial mismanagement.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.