KUALA LUMPUR — Scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad said on Monday (Dec 23) it has filed a legal claim of more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion) against corporate services provider Amicorp Group and its CEO, alleging the firm knowingly facilitated over US$7 billion in fraudulent transactions.
The claim was filed in the British Virgin Islands against eight Amicorp entities and its Chief Executive Officer Toine Knipping, alleging that they played a vital role in enabling the sovereign wealth fund to be defrauded between 2009 and 2014, 1MDB said in a statement.
Amicorp Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Malaysian and US investigators had previously estimated US$4.5 billion was syphoned away from 1MDB following its inception in 2009, implicating former Prime Minister Najib Razak, Goldman Sachs (GS.N) staff and high-level officials elsewhere. Najib is currently in prison but has denied wrongdoing.
1MDB allege Amicorp created and managed a complex conspiracy consisting of layers of shell companies, sham transactions, and fraudulent financial structures that obscured the true origin and destination of the funds.
Stolen funds were purportedly routed through Singapore, Barbados, Curacao, Hong Kong, and the British Virgin Islands, 1MDB said.
"There is, in our view, strong evidence to suggest that Amicorp — at the highest levels — knew they were involved in a dishonest and illegal money laundering scheme designed to transfer large sums of cash away from its intended beneficiary — the people of Malaysia," a spokesperson for 1MDB said in the statement.
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