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I never asked Swiss A-G to stop 1MDB probe, says Apandi

Attorney-General (A-G) Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali has denied allegations that he had persuaded his Swiss counterpart to abandon investigations into debt-ridden state-investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) at a meeting in Zurich last September. Apandi said it was never the subject of discussion at the meeting. "And I categorically deny ever asking my Swiss counterpart to stop any investigations on 1MDB during my meeting last year," he told The Malaysian Insider in a WhatsApp message today. Apandi said this in response to a Reuters report, which quoted sources as saying, that a "Malaysian official" strongly urged Swiss A-G Michael Lauber to abandon his 1MDB-related investigation. This was further emphasised by John Malott, a former US ambassador to Malaysia, in an article featured in news site Malaysiakini. Malott had said that when Apandi met with his Swiss counterpart last September, he allegedly asked Lauber to “abandon”, or stop the investigation. Apandi (pic) was appointed to his current position last July 28 following the abrupt removal of his predecessor Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail on medical grounds. Last week, he announced there was "insufficient evidence" to frame charges against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak after a six-month investigations into the RM2.6 billion donation and Finance Ministry-owned firm, SRC International Sdn Bhd. Lauber's office then issued a press statement saying that criminal investigation into 1MDB had revealed about US$4 billion (RM16.8 billion) appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies. It was also reported that the Swiss authorities had officially asked Malaysia to help with its probes into possible violations of their laws related to bribery of foreign officials, misconduct in public office, money laundering and criminal mismanagement at the fund. Apandi, in a statement last Saturday, said he would take all possible steps to assist the Swiss authorities but added that the investigations into donations made to Najib were entirely separate from those into 1MDB. Singapore too had began its probe last July into money laundering on two bank accounts linked to 1MDB in the island republic. On Monday ,the Commercial Affairs Department and the Monetary Authority of Singapore in a joint statement said they have seized a "large number" of bank accounts in relation to a probe into 1MDB. – February 5, 2016.