US DOJ 1 MDB asset seizure based on breaches of US & Malaysian law:CBT by a public official,public servant disobeying a direction of the law,theft ,cheating etc etc etc

by Ganesh Sahathevan

From the US DOJ indictment:

499. Misappropriating public funds by a public official is a criminal offense under Malaysian law, as enumerated by the Penal Code of Malaysia, including but not limited to sections 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property), 405 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or agent), 166 (Public servant disobeying a direction of the law, with intent to cause injury to any person (including a company)), 415 (cheating), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be thereby caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect),cheai, and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property); and the Malaysian AntiCorruption Act 2009, including sections 16, 17, and 23. Copies of these laws are set forth in Attachment A. 500. Bank fraud is a criminal offense under Malaysian law, as enumerated by the Penal Code of Malaysia, including but not limited to section 415 (cheating), 418 (cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may be thereby caused to a person whose interest the offender is bound to protect), and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property). 501. Misappropriating public funds by a public official is a criminal offense under U.A.E. law, as enumerated in Federal Law No. (3) of 1987 on Issuance of the Penal Code, including but not limited to Articles 224, 225, 227, 228, 229, and 399.

503. The Defendant Asset (Wolf Of Wall Street)  is property that constitutes, and is derived from, proceeds traceable to one or more violations of: (i) a foreign offense involving the misappropriation of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv)); (ii) fraud by or against a foreign bank (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iii)); (iii) wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343); and/or (iv) international transportation or receipt of stolen or fraudulently obtained property (18 U.S.C. § 2314), and receipt of stolen money (18 U.S.C. § 2315), each of which is a specified unlawful activity under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956(c)(7)(A), 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv) and 1956(c)(7)(D), and a conspiracy to commit such offenses. 

506. The Defendant Asset was involved in, and is traceable to property involved in, one or more transactions or attempted transactions in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1957 and a conspiracy to commit such offenses in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). Specifically, the Defendant Asset was involved in and is traceable to property involved in one or more financial transactions, attempted transactions, and a conspiracy to conduct or attempt to conduct such transactions in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000 that was derived from specified unlawful activities, that is: (i) a foreign offense involving the misappropriation of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv)); (ii) fraud by or against a foreign bank (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iii)); (iii) wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343); and/or (iv) international transportation or receipt of stolen or fraudulently obtained property (18 U.S.C. § 2314), and receipt of stolen money (18 U.S.C. § 2315).

509. The Defendant Asset was involved in, and is traceable to property involved in, one or more transactions, or attempted transactions in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i) and a conspiracy to commit such offenses in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). Specifically, the Defendant Asset was involved in and is traceable to property involved in one or more financial transactions, attempted transactions, and a  conspiracy to conduct or attempt to conduct such transactions involving the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, that is: (i) a foreign offense involving the misappropriation of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv)); (ii) fraud by or against a foreign bank (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iii)); (iii) wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343); and/or (iv) international transportation or receipt of stolen or fraudulently obtained property (18 U.S.C. § 2314), and receipt of stolen money (18 U.S.C. § 2315), and were designed in whole or in part to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership or the control of the proceeds of the specified unlawful activities in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(1)(B)(i). 

512. The Defendant Asset was involved in, and is traceable to property involved in, one or more transactions or attempted transactions in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(B) and a conspiracy to commit such offenses in violation of section 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h). Specifically, the Defendant Asset was involved in and are traceable to funds that were and were attempted to be, transported, transmitted, or transferred, and a conspiracy to transport, transmit, or transfer, to a place in the United States from or through a place outside the United States, with the knowledge that the funds involved in the transportation, transmission, or transfer represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity and knowledge that such transportation, transmission, or transfer was designed in whole or in part to conceal or disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of specified unlawful activities, that is: (i) a foreign offense involving the misappropriation of public funds by or for the benefit of a public official (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv)); (ii) fraud by or against a foreign bank (18 U.S.C. § 1956(c)(7)(B)(iii)); (iii) wire fraud (18 U.S.C. § 1343); and/or (iv) international transportation or receipt of stolen or fraudulently obtained property (18 U.S.C. § 2314), and receipt of stolen money (18 U.S.C. § 2315).

DOJ 1 MDB investigation based on records of phone conversations,email transmissions : What else do the DOJ, NCA know of Malaysian Cabinet ministers' financial dealings? 

by Ganesh Sahathevan


It has been reported that Malaysia's PM Najib " questions source of complaints received by US Department of Justice".

The source seems obvious, for example this paragraph from the US DOJ indictment:

67. On September 30, 2009, at approximately 2:39 p.m., the Deutsche Bank Employee, a Deutsche Bank supervisor (“Deutsche Bank Supervisor”), and 1MDB OFFICER 1 had a telephone conversation regarding the requested $700 million wire transfer. During this conversation, 1MDB OFFICER 1 falsely represented that the beneficiary of the $700 million wire was PetroSaudi. In truth, the beneficiary of the wire was Good Star. Their exchange, conducted in English, was as follows: 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Hey, No [mah], I, whatever mistake they’ve made you cannot go back [ask] them. They [already] give you approval from [Bank Negara] all the way to the top. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor Um-hum . . . 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Uh. You want to, hang on, this one ___. The ___ is asking me to go and send it now. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor Okay, okay, okay. Let, let, let me just convince my compliance person. This is, I’m, I’m fine with you about the compliance side, uh, it’s. It’s a little bit sticky with this. But let me just try –

1MDB OFFICER 1 Good. 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor --and convince her 

1MDB OFFICER 1 Yeah, and __ I don’t know how to answer you know, that’s why I’m under tremendous pressure – 

68. On September 30, 2009, at approximately 2:51 p.m., the Deutsche Bank Supervisor had a telephone conversation with a Bank Negara official (“Bank Negara Official”). Their conversation included the following exchange: 

Deutsche Bank Supervisor I understand that. I understand that. Okay. So you know in terms of account it’s basically a business decision for the [client] [now]. 

Bank Negara Official Yeah, yeah, yeah, because we, we, I mean we do not know of the, all that when there applied to us, they got 1.5 billion will be put by the Saudi MDB, one billion by us, uh by Malaysia –  

Bank Negara Official --and that, and the crediting of the account and so on , is this their business decision, la, so long as it does not deviate from the original intention and that is not for Bank Negara to say but more of the government [la] because this is MOF’s . . . baby [la].

Then, this  example of email intercepts:

110. In a document entitled “LOW FAMILY HISTORY AND BACKGROUND, ORIGINS OF JYNWEL CAPITAL,” that was emailed by LOW’s brother to a New York business person on or about August 13, 2013, the Low family represented that “Mr. Jho Low founded the Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corporation in 2007 and together with third-party investment partners structured numerous multi-million dollar buyouts with interests in construction, real estate development (Putrajaya Perdana Berhad), water infrastructure (Loh & Loh Corporation Berhad), road concessions and oil & gas (UBG Berhad).”

125. Electronic communications among Goldman employees during the lead-up to the May 21, 2012, bond closing date reflect that employees at Goldman offered differing information about the nature of LOW’s relationship to 1MDB and/or his role in the bond deal and the procurement of the IPIC guarantee: a. In an email dated March 27, 2012, a managing director at GoldmanAsia referred to LOW as “the 1MDB Operator or intermediary in Malaysia.” 

395. During at least part of the time during which the above-referenced transfers were made, LOW maintained a Red Granite email account with the domain name @redgranitepictures.com. This email account was deleted in or around April 2012. 2. Tens of Millions in 1MDB Funds Funneled Through the Aabar-BVI Account Were Used to Fund Red Granite Pictures and “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Najib,and the rest of the Malaysian cabinet, and other public servants involved in the 1 MDB matter need to be more concerned about what else the FBI and the DOJ have discovered. Perhaps they might want to consult that former high ranking GCHQ man, Brian Lord.......

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