Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - Malaysianpolice raided the Kuala Lumpur office of audit firm Deloitte on May 23 as partof a widening probe into a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad  (1MDB).

Police seized documents and files during the operation.

In January, Malaysia’s securitiesregulator fined Deloitte 2.2 million ringgits (about 525,000 USD) for failingto report irregularities in relation to an Islamic bond issued by a 1MDB-linkedcompany.

Deloitte was 1MDB’s thirdauditor after the fund fired its earlier auditors, KPMG and Ernst & Young.

It drew the police’sattention while auditing financial documents of 1MDB in 2013 and 2014. The firmno longer covered the fund in 2016.

Najib Razak, the fund’sfounder faces seven charges, including corruption, criminal breach of trust,and money laundering, which were said to have helped him pocket 42 million MYR(10.3 million USD).

The 1MDB scandalwas one of the reasons why Malaysian voters turned their backs on Razak’scoalition in the election in May 2018, ending the six-decade rule of thiscoalition, and raised support for Mohamad’s alliance.

Since this election, Najib Razak has faced 48 charges,mostly related to the 1MDB fund and other state institutions. However, hedenied any wrongdoings.

Najib founded the 1MDB investment fund in 2009,supposedly to serve Malaysia’s development through global partnerships andforeign direct investment.

However, it became the centre of a moneylaundering scandal, allegedly causing losses of up to 3.7 billion USD andleading to probes in Malaysia and several other countries such as the US,Switzerland, Singapore and China.–VNA