Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has been asked to explain why the government is only considering sending officials to the United States to hold a watching brief in the Department of Justice forfeiture proceedings and not as intervenor.

It is inappropriate to just hold a watching brief in a matter involving 1MDB, said Parti Amanah Negara Youth deputy chief, Faiz Fadzil, who is the son of the 1990s PAS president Fadzil Noor.

Faiz (photo) said Malaysia has a direct interest in the matter, since 1MDB is a state investment fund and Malaysia therefore has the right to seek the assets listed in the forfeiture proceedings.

“Hence, the AG should advise the Malaysian government to file an application as intervenor, with the government being a party in the proceedings to protect and defend Malaysian rights over the assets the US government wants to seize under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative,” he said.

“This is vital as looking at the facts laid out in the civil forfeiture case papers, money laundering is a result of criminal actions of stealing 1MDB funds. As 1MDB is Malaysian-owned, the government has the right to the assets involved in the proceedings,” Faiz, a lawyer by profession, added.

What more, Faiz said, since a ‘Malaysian Official 1’ is also stated as the individual involved in the money laundering scandal.

A watching brief is where lawyers represent clients, not directly a party in a suit, but to function as an observer, while an intervenor is a legal term that means a court has made a formal decision for that party to participate in the proceedings and provide comment or submit on the legal issues being considered.

Faiz said the AG, as the guardian of public interests and the country's interests, should look into this and not look after certain individuals who have interests in 1MDB and Putrajaya.

“If the government is not brave to become an intervenor, the facts of the criminal acts in the 1MDB scandal can be deemed to be the truth and this will go against the finding that Apandi made, that no crime was committed in the investigations done into 1MDB and the prime minister,” he said.

Yesterday, Apandi said he was contemplating the idea of sending his representatives, to go himself, or even to appoint a firm in the US to hold a watching brief in the forfeiture proceedings to register Malaysia’s interest in the recovery of US$1 billion in assets.

"I am pondering sending representatives there or going there myself just because we want to register our interest. If you want to give the money to us, we want to hear.

“We want to go there and listen to what transpires in court. With the permission from the court, we may also ask a few questions,” Apandi said.

However, he added, he would have to consult with the lawyers in the United States first on the possibility of holding a watching brief under the American judicial and legal system.