IMDB: the lingering threat posed by foreign probes

Hong Kong

IT'S hard to bury a big scandal. That is the awkward lesson that Najib Razak is learning. The Malaysian Prime Minister is attempting to draw a line under a multi-pronged financial controversy that almost toppled him. But initial findings from Switzerland's attorney-general that around US$4 billion may have been misappropriated from Malaysian state firms is a sharp reminder of the lingering threat posed by foreign investigations.

Even by the standards of Malaysian politics, it has been an extraordinary few days. On Jan 26, the country's chief prosecutor concluded that US$681 million that was transferred into the Prime Minister's personal account in 2013 was a donation from the royal family in Saudi Arabia, not money from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, an indebted fund he championed. Mr Najib was cleared of graft. Three days later, however, Swiss authorities published preliminary conclusions from its own probe into 1MDB which found that bil…