Officials from the US Justice Department travelled to Malaysia to meet several individuals in its investigation into 1MDB, Reuters reported today, citing unnamed sources.
This comes after Sarawak Report said the US Justice Department is seeking extradition of an individual detained in Abu Dhabi in relation to the 1MDB investigation.
Malaysiakini has contacted the US Justice Department for confirmation.
The 1MDB scandal is investigated by authorities in Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Luxembourg, Singapore and Hong Kong.
It is unclear how long the US officials were in Kuala Lumpur or if they have left, Reuters said quoting sources who cannot be identified as they are not authorised to speak to media.
A team of lawyers for Deutsche Bank are also in the capital city to prepare a report to submit to the Department of Justice, one of the sources told the newswire.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is the board of advisers chairperson for 1MDB – a fully-owned government investment firm founded in 2009.
The US probe comes as international media reports state US$1 billion was deposited into Najib’s bank account, of which at least US$15 million was spent on luxury goods and holidays.
Deustche Bank had loaned 1MDB US$975 million in 2014, which was repaid last year.
It also advised the fund on a proposed US$3 billion initial public offering of energy assets, which were instead sold last month.
The US government is also looking at investment banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in its 1MDB probe.
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