Malaysian police raid Deloitte office in 1MDB probe

AFP  |  Kuala Lumpur 

on Thursday raided the offices of as they ramp up investigations into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal, an said.

Huge sums were stolen from Malaysian state fund 1MDB, allegedly by former leader and his cronies who spent it on everything from yachts to rare artwork.

has come under scrutiny after it audited 1MDB's 2013 and 2014 financial statements.

Mazlan Mansor, the police's head of commercial crimes, confirmed to AFP that a raid had taken place on Deloitte's office "in the course of 1MDB investigations".

Police seized documents and files during the operation, newspaper reported.

Malaysia's securities regulator had already fined the firm 2.2 million ringgit ($525,000) in January for breaches related to a 1MDB bond issuance.

was the third major accounting company to audit 1MDB's books, after and

Deloitte quit as 1MDB's in 2016.

The same year, the firm said its audits of 1MDB's financial statements could no longer be relied upon after the US filed lawsuits linked to the scandal.

US authorities are seeking to claw back assets allegedly bought in with funds stolen from 1MDB and believe $4.5 billion was looted from the fund.

The allegations played a large part in persuading voters to eject Najib's coalition at historic elections last year after more than six decades in power.

He has since been hit with dozens of charges linked to the scandal, and last month went on trial. He denies wrongdoing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Thu, May 23 2019. 17:06 IST