KUWAIT CITY, Sept 10: In the context of the criminal investigations related to corruption, Malaysia has officially asked Kuwait to investigate and inform it about the number of people suspected of embezzlement and money laundering in the context of the 1MDB case, which is managed by the Kuala Lumpur government, in which the former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul-Razak was sentenced to 12 years in prison, reports Al-Rai daily.

The official request came from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which announced in a statement that it had recently sent the request “on the background of several correspondence and discussions it had over the past two years with the relevant Kuwaiti law enforcement authorities”. It was mentioned in the statement that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Authority is currently awaiting evidence from the Kuwaiti authorities, which it had requested in the framework of mutual legal support between the two sides.

The matter is still under scrutiny and study by the Kuwaiti side. Considering that the authority is one of the leading agencies in terms of publi fund recovery efforts, it focuses on recovering assets and funds that were looted through embezzlement and fraud that took place in the Malaysian sovereign fund and in several other companies. Any investigations involving cooperation by foreign authorities are normally complex”. The authority’s statement came in response to a controversial report published by the Malaysian “Sarawak Report” news portal, which included accusations of the authority obstructing investigations.

The report stated that the anti-money laundering authorities in Kuwait complained about the lack of response from the Malaysian authority two years ago, which is the reason for a slowdown in the cooperation between the two countries’ governments regarding the issue of the Malaysian sovereign fund. It is noteworthy that the Criminal Court in Kuwait set September 13 for the first session of the Malaysian fund case.