1MDB not a party to DoJ civil lawsuit — Abdul Rahman

KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is not a party to the United States’ Department of Justice ( DoJ) civil lawsuit, said Barisan Nasional ( BN) Strategic Communications director, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Abdul Rahman, in a statement yesterday, explained the assets that the DoJ alleged were wrongfully procured and seek to seize, were in fact purchased by entities that were not legally owned nor controlled by 1MDB.

“Clearly, the DoJ’s investigation was triggered by complaints made by certain individuals. My suspicion is that these complainants are actually Malaysians with heinous political agenda against the prime minister and the government.

“Malaysians deserve to know who these complainants are and the DoJ should reveal their identities immediately,” he added.

Abdul Rahman, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said while the DoJ has every right to file the civil lawsuit, it was essential for the lawsuit to be based on provable facts and not contain baseless rhetoric or ill-intentioned statements.

“More importantly, the allegations made by the DoJ must first be proven in a court of law, before it can be accepted as fact.

“As a sovereign country, Malaysia has conducted its own investigations.

“In particular, by the influential and bipartisan parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, made of senior leaders from both sides of the aisle, who has not found any evidence that money has been misappropriated from 1MDB,” he said.