The US government has returned another $156 million to Malaysia in recovered assets linked to scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), taking the total returned so far to $1.4 billion, the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur said.
The recovered funds were being returned following the US Justice Department’s approval of a remission petition submitted by the Malaysian government.
To date, US authorities have recovered and returned about $1.4bn in funds misappropriated from 1MDB to Malaysia, the US embassy said in a statement.
“This extraordinary sum of money is going back to the people of Malaysia where it belongs and where it can finally be used for its original intended purpose – to better the lives of everyday Malaysians,” US ambassador Edgard D Kagan said in the statement.
Malaysian and US investigators estimate $4.5bn was siphoned away from 1MDB following its inception in 2009, implicating former Prime Minister Najib Razak, Goldman Sachs staff and high-level officials elsewhere.
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