Attorney-general Apandi Ali has denied allegations that he had urged his Swiss counterpart to drop its investigations into 1MDB during their meeting in Zurich last September.

The Malaysian Insider quoted Apandi as saying that the investigations over alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds amounting to USD 4 million was never the subject of their discussion.

"And I categorically deny ever asking my Swiss counterpart to stop any investigations on 1MDB during my meeting last year," he reportedly told The Malaysian Insider in a WhatsApp message today.

Apandi said this in response to a Reuters report which quoted sources saying that a "Malaysian official" had strongly urged Swiss AG Michael Lauber to abandon his 1MDB-related investigations.

It was also reported that the Reuters report was highlighted by John Malott, a former US ambassador to Malaysia, in his commentary .

Malott had said that when Apandi met with his Swiss counterpart last September, he allegedly asked Michael Lauber to 'abandon' or stop the investigation.

Last week, in response to Apandi’s decision to close the cases against Najib, Lauber through his office had reportedly made a request to Malaysia for assistance with its 1MDB probe into possible violations of Swiss laws related to bribery of foreign officials, misconduct in public office, money laundering and criminal mismanagement.

He also said that Najib was not a suspect in the Swiss probe.

Apandi then said he would take all possible steps to assist the Swiss authorities but insisted that the investigations into the RM2.6 billion donation made to Najib were entirely separate from those into 1MDB.

OAG an independent body

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi then stepped in to express his unhappiness over the Swiss AG’s public appeal for assistance, saying instead that it should have been conveyed via official G2G (government-to-government) channels.

The Office of the Swiss Attorney-General (OAG) refused comment on Zahid’s statement but told Malaysiakini it ' was satisfied ' that the Malaysian attorney-general would assist Switzerland in its investigation into 1MDB.

The Swiss Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had similarly told Malaysiakini that it could not comment on the matter as the OAG was an independent body .

Both Najib and 1MDB have consistently denied any wrongdoings during the investigations that now involve several foreign authorities.