KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities in the United Kingdom could not impose a High Court order to prevent PetroSaudi International (PSI), its director Tarek Obaid and several entities to move US$340 million of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) funds stashed in a foreign law firm.
Deputy public prosecutor Muhammad Izzat Fauzan said the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) in their email told the Attorney-General's Chambers that they were having difficulty enforcing the order.
"Based on the e-mail that we received on Aug 21, the NCA said there was a predicament in how to get the order enforced in the UK.
"We asked the court to set an early date to hear this case on grounds that if the matter is prolonged, the monies may dissipate and it would prejudice the prosecution," he said during the hearing of the case before judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali.
The same court on July 16 had issued a temporary order to prevent Tarek Obaid, PSI, Petrosaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd, Clyde & Co. LLP and Temple Fiduciary Services Ltd from moving the monies believed to be linked to the 1MBD financial scandal.
The order would last until the disposal of an asset forfeiture application filed by the government through the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
The US$340,258,246.87 is stashed at UK-based law firm Clyde & Co LLP belonging to PSI and its subsidiary company, PetrolSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Limited.
Meanwhile, counsel Alex Tan, who represented the PetroSaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Limited, said there was no movement of the monies in the accounts.
"The interim order is in place until the final disposal of the main application (prohibition application).
"However, we still need time to reply to another issue raised by the prosecution in their affidavit," he said.
Mohd Nazlan then fixed Sept 15 for hearing.
The government, through the MACC, is also seeking to freeze an unspecified amount of money deposited in an intermediate account under Temple Fiduciary Services at Barclays Bank.
The application was related to an offence under Section 4(1) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Amlatfapuaa).
MACC officer Mohd Afiq Ab Aziz, who was the investigating officer of the case, said he believed that the monies in Clyde & Co LLP would be dispersed after a legal dispute between Petrosaudi Oil Services (Venezuela) Ltd and Venezuelan government-owned Petróleos de Venezuela.
Afiq, in his affidavit, said his investigation revealed that in Sept 2019, the law firm had entered into an agreement to use the money for the arbitration proceedings.
He believed that the funds were part of evidence in connection with a conspiracy to defraud, which involves former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, and several other individuals related to 1MDB.
He said the Pekan Member of Parliament was slapped with multiple criminal charges involving money laundering and power abuse relating to the sovereign state fund.
He also believes and suspects that the assets being held or deposited abroad were proceeds from illegal activities.