None of the frozen accounts belongs to Najib, says Malaysia's AG

Anita Gabriel
Published Wed, Jul 8, 2015 · 09:54 AM

Malaysia's Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail clarified that none of the freeze orders involving six bank accounts issued on Monday involved accounts allegedly held by Prime Minister Najib Razak.

In a statement, he also expressed concern over the leakage of documents on the ongoing criminal investigation by the special task force and said it was crucial to preserve the integrity of the investigation.

"This was not a question of whistleblowing because the matter is already under investigation. A further concern was that the documents were allegedly leaked from within the investigation itself," he said.

He also expressed concern at the insinuations and allegations that have been made linking him to certain political agenda.

"The whole purpose of establishing an inter-agency Special Task Force to investigate the matter was to ensure that there could be no abuse of the investigation mechanism," he said adding that he will not hesitate to prosecute any person found to have leaked confidential documents related to the probe.

He said it was a criminal offence under section 133 of the Financial Services Act 2013 and section 145 of the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 for any person to have access to information on the affairs or accounts of a customer of a financial institution or for a bank to disclose such information to another.

The concern over the leaks is also endorsed by Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar and the Chief Commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Abu Kassim Mohamed, he added.

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