Police Raids Audit Firm Deloitte Over 1MDB, Leaves With 11 Boxes of Documents & Files

Yesterday morning (23 May) at 10.45am, a team of police officers from Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department arrived at the office of accounting firm Deloitte Malaysia to conduct a raid. The raid was linked to the 1MDB graft-scandal investigation.

According to The Star, more than a dozen cops made their way there in three unmarked police cars and headed to the 16th floor of the office tower, which is located in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). As such, many officers were spotted walking in and out from the building to where their cars were parked.

At 3.15pm, MalaysiaKini reported that no arrests were made yet but that the police confiscated some documents and files during the raid. Then, at 5.30pm, the team of police were seen exiting the building and proceeding to the loading bay that’s situated on the lower ground floor. There, they loaded two cardboard boxes into one of the police cars and van before the latter made its way to the basement where nine more boxes were loaded into the vehicle.

Finally, at 5.55pm, the team of officers were seen leaving the building.

Soon after, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Mazlan Mansor was contacted and he confirmed the raid, saying,

“I can confirm that we have raided the firm and seized documents to help in our probe into the 1MDB case. A team from the Bukit Aman CCID conducted the raid in accordance with their ongoing investigations into the case.”

The raid was conducted just a day after our Inspector-General of Police announced that they have found new leads on the whereabouts Low Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), who is linked to the 1MDB scandal. Currently, they are trying their best to bring the fugitive Malaysian businessman back to his motherland as soon as they can.

The IGP added that Jho Low has plunged Malaysia into a huge debt, saying, “The country has high debts because of his robbery.”

FYI, Deloitte – which is one of the “big four” international accounting firms including KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers – is believed to be the first to be raided by local police in regards to the 1MDB probe. Deloitte was also appointed as the auditor for 1MDB Real Estate Sdn Bhd from year 2015 to 2016. Moreover, 1MDB had reportedly fired KPMG and Ernst & Young before hiring Deloitte as its third auditor.

What do you think of this raid? Tell us in the comments! 

 

Also read: US Returns More Than RM800 Million From Seized 1MDB-Related Assets to Malaysia