AG Apandi Has (Once Again) Refused To Cooperate With Switzerland Over Their 1MDB Probe
Switzerland respects Malaysia's independent decision on this matter.
By Sadho Ram — 12 Nov 2016, 05:50 PM
According to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland, its Malaysian counterpart in KL have refused their call for help in collecting evidence into claims that up to USD4.8 billion was diverted from companies linked to 1MDB, reported FT.com
Michael Lauber, the Swiss Attorney-General (AG), revealed that Switzerland had twice asked Malaysia for mutual legal assistance (MLA).
"Very recently we have had the response that the Malaysian authorities will not reply to our request. They just said that under their legal framework, they can't reply."
The Swiss AG had requested AG Apandi twice to consider for Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in connection with the 1MDB case
"Switzerland respects Malaysia’s independent decision on this matter. The Malaysian authorities remain free to use the information provided in Switzerland’s requests for assistance in their own investigations," Malaysiakini reported the OAG as saying.
While AG Apandi's refusal to cooperate may raise questions about how serious the country is in dealing with 1MDB, Swiss AG Lauber refused to draw any conclusions for Malaysia's refusal to co-operate
"As a prosecutor, I am not the one to speculate about the reasons behind it," The Financial Times quoted him as saying yesterday, 11 November.
He added that the Swiss criminal investigations would not be derailed, citing help from Singapore as well as other countries
Lauber assured that, despite Malaysia's negative stand, the Swiss criminal proceedings, "which," he said, "are about maintaining the integrity of the Swiss financial system, will continue."
"We will ask other jurisdictions for support - for example, Singapore, with which we have worked very well, other European jurisdictions and the US," he added.
AG Apandi's chambers, meanwhile, said it was unable to accede to Swiss AG's requests because of a continuing criminal investigation by Malaysian police in relation to matters concerning 1MDB
It appears while Swiss officials publicly alluded to expectations that Malaysia will cooperate, privately the Malaysians have demanded that the Swiss drop their investigation, according to a report in Channel NewsAsia, which cited Reuters.
However, while on one hand AG Apandi says Swiss requests could prejudice a criminal matter in Malaysia, at the same time his response appear as if we have something to hide and therefore being reluctant in being cooperating with a foreign probe.