The US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil forfeiture suits have provided the most extensive documentation on the 1MDB scandal to date with damaging claims against the troubled Malaysian sovereign wealth fund and its key players.

While many BN leaders have chosen to remain silent, Umno, in particular, has been on a counter-offensive, accusing the US of foreign intervention or even trying to overthrow a Muslim government.

However, even before the DOJ filed its first civil forfeiture suit in July 2016, it was the Swiss authorities which had first gone public with its investigation into 1MDB.

Switzerland's Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) announced on Jan 29 last year that it suspected around US$4 billion had been misappropriated from the Malaysian fund.

It had requested for mutual legal assistance from Malaysia and did so again on Oct 10 last year in relation to a further US$800 million linked to former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd.

Malaysian attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had snubbed both requests.

But despite being the first to go public on 1MDB, the Swiss authorities have released information sparingly to the public compared to the DOJ.

A contrast between the two is that the Swiss authorities are building a criminal case while the US one is a civil action, even though the DOJ has refused to say if criminal actions will follow.

Switzerland's OAG in an email reply to Malaysiakini said a criminal case is pending and that was why it had not released further information.

"Please take note that in Switzerland, pending criminal proceedings are, by law, confidential and we are generally bound by investigation secrecy...