1MDB task force to search for evidence abroad next

KUALA LUMPUR: The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) task force will now focus on getting evidence from outside the country, said its member, Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull yesterday.

Shukri, who is also the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) chief, said the gathering local evidence is almost completed.

"This makes the status of completion (of the probe) at around 50%. Half of it is here, another half overseas.

"Now we are looking at evidence from overseas,” he told reporters after officiating the "Walk Stop Talk: Six Hours Quarter Million Messages" event, an anticorruption awareness programme, here yesterday.

On the lawsuit by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who accused him of prejudice in the course of his investigation, Shukri said he was ready to face it. “Sue me, I will accept it. Let the court decide,” he said in response to Najib’s lawsuit filed June 30.

Najib was charged on Wednesday with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abusing his position for self-gain in RM42 million funds related to a former 1MDB unit, SRC International Sdn Bhd, that were transferred into his private bank accounts.

In his lawsuit filed June 30, Najib named Shukri as well as police commercial crimes head Datuk Seri Amar Singh and Attorney-General Tommy Thomas as respondents.