Hoarding more than S$240 million in cash and assets, and refusing to return the stolen 1MDB funds, the Singapore government was forced to return S$15 million to the Malaysian government. In a press release by Malaysia yesterday (Sep 11), the Malaysia government announced they won a court order to get the Lee Hsien Loong’s administration to return the stolen funds.
The Malaysia-appointed legal team said they will proceed with legal actions against the Singapore government in recovering the remain 1MDB funds that Lee Hsien Loong refused to hand over:
“The S$15.3 million recovered is the first phase of the ongoing efforts to recover funds that were unlawfully misappropriated from the 1MDB and/or SRC International Sdn Bhd Group of Companies. Millions more are expected to be recovered in time. Efforts to recover other unlawfully misappropriated assets are ongoing.”
Malaysia’s Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng thanked the Singapore court for its impartiality but pointed out that the S$15 million is only a paltry amount compared to the actual sum:
“I thank the Singapore court for its decision and I hope it would be the beginning of more to come. After all, the sum of these monies is only a tip of the iceberg to be returned relating to 1MDB.”
Singapore is one of the key culprits assisting Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak to siphon more than US$4.5 billion from the national state fund 1MDB. The Singapore government tried to close the case without Malaysia’s agreement in May 2017, but it was forced to reopen the case after Malaysia’s new government came into power a year later, but it has been uncooperative with the new democracy, citing legislation red tapes.