PETALING JAYA: The US Justice Department (DoJ) civil suit against 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is "clearly" triggered by complaints by individuals with a "heinous political agenda" against the Prime Minister and the Government.
Barisan Nasional strategic communications director Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the DoJ should make public the identities of the individuals because Malaysians deserve to know who they are.
"The DoJ should reveal the identities immediately so Malaysians will quickly realise how deeply embedded the complainants are within the opposition parties' agenda to topple the Prime Minister and the democratically elected Government of Malaysia," he said in a statement Sunday.
Abdul Rahman, who is also the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said while DoJ has every right to file the suit, it is essential for the suit to be based on provable facts.
"More importantly, the allegations made by the DoJ must first be proven in a court of law before they can be accepted as fact," he said.
He also stressed that there is no evidence that money has been misappropriated from 1MDB based on investigations conducted by Malaysia's parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
"1MDB is not a party to the DoJ civil law suit. In fact, the assets that the DoJ alleges were wrongfully procured and seeks to seize were in fact purchased by entities that are not legally owned or controlled by 1MDB," he said.
The DoJ moved on Thursday to seize US$540mil (RM2.3bil) of assets allegedly belonging to 1MDB.
This time last year, US prosecutors filed civil assets-forfeiture suits against more than US$1bil (RM4.27bil) worth of artworks, real estate and other assets owned by several individuals.
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