KUALA LUMPUR (April 28): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has requested information from German authorities concerning the alleged acquisition of luxury vehicles in Germany, financed by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds, according to MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki.

This request is in response to reports of luxury cars seized by German authorities in Munich, believed to be linked to the 1MDB case.

Azam said MACC had begun investigating this matter since 2020.

He said that a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request to Switzerland to obtain information about frozen assets related to the 1MDB case had been submitted in November 2020.

"This was followed by meetings with the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) of Switzerland  regarding 50 luxury cars involved in the 1MDB investigation in 2021. Later in March 2022, a meeting with the OAG was held in Switzerland to discuss the progress of the MLA request and obtain further information.

"In line with this, the MACC has also requested information from the German authorities about 1MDB bond funds used to purchase luxury cars in Germany on October 26, 2022," he told Bernama on Sunday.

Azam added that in a recent development, MACC had sent a request for the latest information from the German authorities.

On Sunday, local media reported that German police had seized four rare Bugatti Veyron models from a private storage facility in Munich, allegedly linked to the 1MDB scandal, based on German media reports.

The seized luxury cars are classified under the exclusive Legends series of Bugatti hypercars, with only 18 cars produced in the series.

The four cars are the Rembrandt edition Veyron, Black Bess, Jean-Pierre Wimille, and Meo Constantini. Each car is valued at around US$3 million (RM14.3 million).