1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, is a state investment fund Najib launched in 2009 shortly after assuming office. For example, US investigators said $681 million of 1MDB money was illicitly transferred to an account controlled by "Malaysian Official 1". KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia has been gripped for more than a year by allegations that billions of dollars were looted from state investment fund 1MDB in an audacious campaign of fraud and money laundering. As the scandal escalated, Najib purged 1MDB critics from his cabinet, curbed domestic investigations, and enacted a tough new security law, sparking accusations that he was imperilling Malaysia's already fragile democracy to save his skin. -- In 2009, $700 million was secretly diverted from a 1MDB joint venture with a small Saudi energy company to bank accounts controlled by Low.

Source: Bangkok Post July 21, 2016 12:45 UTC