KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): The Singapore Police Force said it has been cooperating with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) with regard to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-related investigations involving Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s husband Datuk Tawfiq Ayman.
In a statement, it said it has always been prompt and “facilitative” of PDRM’s requests, and that its Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) had agreed to the former’s request in December to travel to Singapore to conduct further investigations into Tawfiq.
“The police would like to clarify that all requests for assistance from the PDRM have been dealt with promptly, and we have been facilitative. For the investigations into Datuk Dr Tawfiq Ayman, PDRM made the request to travel to Singapore to conduct further investigations on Dec 2, 2021.
“CAD responded on Dec 6, 2021 to agree to the request; we proposed multiple dates for the visit, and also proposed arrangements to comply with the Covid-19 border measures,” said the Singapore police.
It added that there were multiple correspondences subsequently, with CAD proposing that the visit be conducted between Feb 8 and 9, 2022 in the last correspondence on Jan 10, 2022.
PDRM had responded on March 8, 2022, requesting to enter Singapore in mid to late March, said the statement.
On March 4, PDRM said it was awaiting clearance from Singapore to further its 1MDB-related investigations into Tawfiq, and said it was unable to give an estimate on when it would be able to enter the island state.
The issue relating to Tawfiq and the US$15.4 million (RM64.6 million) 1MDB-linked funds surfaced after Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia unit chief, Tim Leissner testified at the money-laundering trial of his former colleague Roger Ng Chong Hwa in New York that the husband of the former Bank Negara Malaysia governor had been bribed for the central bank’s approval of an overnight transfer of US$1 billion for the PetroSaudi-1MDB joint-venture project.
Tawfiq, in a statement, denied the allegations against him, saying he had never known, met or communicated with Leissner or Ng.