According to the US-based daily, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has since opened an investigation paper into the Malaysian-owned investment firm’s activities, but the source did not specify the subject of the probe.
The WSJ pointed out, however, that its previous report alleging that US$700 million (RM2.9 billion) was funnelled into Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s accounts involved two deposits made via US banks, a Swiss international bank and Wells Fargo in New York.
Former Umno leader and 1MDB critic Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan was arrested on Friday and remanded for another six days yesterday.
He was to have flown to New York prior to his arrest, reportedly to meet US government officials to seek their aid for investigations into the state-owned strategic investment firm.
The FBI told the WSJ, however, that it did not have any planned engagement with Khairuddin.
The WSJ has published a series of reports detailing dubious activity allegedly involving 1MDB, beginning with an exposé in July on the US$700 million deposit in Najib’s accounts.
It followed up last month with another report alleging that US$1.4 billion in payments from 1MDB to a UAE sovereign fund was missing from the Middle Eastern firm’s accounts.
The July report, in particular, appeared to trigger of a series of events in Malaysia that eventually led to the amount being declared a donation from the Middle East while local investigations into 1MDB were also either suspended or redirected.
But Khairuddin’s efforts to press other countries to investigate alleged improprieties involving 1MDB and its transactions appeared to be gaining traction, with Switzerland, the SAR of Hong Kong, and, most recently, the United Kingdom all opening probes.
Najib has denied any impropriety over the US$700 million donation, which was described as a political donation to the Umno party that he head.
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