Two executives convicted in Switzerland over 1MDB scandal

GENEVA - Two men have been sentenced to six and seven years in prison for embezzlement in Switzerland in connection with the Malaysian state fund 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad).

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona ruled Wednesday that they were involved in defrauding the 1MDB fund, German news agency (dpa) reported.

The defendants are the director of the oil company PetroSaudi with offices in Geneva and a business partner.

One of them is a Swiss-Saudi dual national and the other a Swiss-British dual citizen. The judgement is not yet final.

The 1MDB fund was originally intended to promote the economic development of Malaysia, but around 10 years ago, a billion-dollar fraud at the sovereign wealth fund was uncovered.

Then-Malaysian prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was sentenced to many years in prison and fined millions in 2020.

The US Department of Justice assumes that US$4.5 billion were stolen from the fund. In June, it said that it has since seized US$1.4 billion dollars in accounts so far and returned the funds to Malaysia.

DPA reported that according to Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General, the defendants in Switzerland allegedly entered into a joint venture with 1MDB under false pretences and with the involvement of a Malaysian investor, allegedly contributing assets that they did not actually own.

Tens of millions of dollars from the sovereign wealth fund ultimately ended up with the defendants "without serving the purpose of the joint venture," according to a statement from the Federal Criminal Court.

At the indictment in April last year, federal prosecutors said that the two were accused of "embezzling and laundering at least US$1.8 billion." - BERNAMA-DPA