The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) was compelled to assist the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as Malaysia is a signatory of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, said MACC chief commissioner Abu Kassim Mohamed.
He said MACC's probe on 1MDB is on a businessman alleged to have cheated 1MDB and laundered the funds before taking it to the US.
"As such, US sought our assistance and we only assisted as provided under the United Nations Convention Against Corruption.
"(Under the convention), agencies are required to give their cooperation and support when confronted with a crime involving several countries," Bernama reported him as saying in Lundang, near Kota Bharu today.
On Friday, MACC in a statement confirmed it was cooperating with FBI on 1MDB investigations.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was reported as saying the government took a serious view of the civil suit on 1MDB by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
He said the matter was a civil action and not a criminal case and it was only limited to the names mentioned in the DOJ document.
Najib said the government would give its full cooperation to all international investigation bodies.
US DOJ last Wednesday launched what it touts to be its largest action ever brought under its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative (Kari).
Through a series of civil forfeiture suits, it seeks to seize over US$1 billion worth of assets that were supposedly the result of criminal proceeds from the embezzlement of over US$3.5 billion from 1MDB.
The suits name Najib's stepson Riza Aziz, Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as 'Jho Low', and Abu Dhabi government officials Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
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