Prime Minister Najib Razak's lawyer Mohd Hafarizam Harun said he could not comment on the United States Department of Justice forfeiture action filed last week, as it is outside his purview.

He said he only represents Najib in his personal capacity, regarding matters on defamation filed in courts in Malaysia.

"I cannot comment if the PM is going to instruct lawyers to defend the case over the Department of Justice action filed last week. This should be answered by the official spokesman of the government, or the PM," he said when met outside court today.

Hafarizam pointed out that although the US court documents mentions a 'Malaysian Official 1' his identity has yet to be conclusively proven.

He added that he had no familiarity with the application as it was filed in the United States.

On Thursday, the US Department of Justice filed the forfeiture action where the court documents specifically named Riza Aziz, who is Najib's stepson, and Red Granite Pictures chief executive officer, Malaysian businessman Jho Low, a United Arab Emirates national Khadem Abdulla al-Qubaisi, who was the International Petroleum Investment Company’s (IPIC) managing director and Aabar former CEO Mohamed Ahmed Badawy al-Husseiny.

Also named prominently was 'Malaysian Official 1', who was mentioned 36 times, and many believed from the descriptions in the court documents that the official is Najib.

The US authorities sought to seize 17 assets including a jet, properties and artworks from funds they claimed was diverted from 1MDB.