Civil society groups Bersih and Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) have refuted 1MDB's statement that the RM430 million held by Swiss authorities from three banks was a fine imposed.

“1MDB should stop lying about their money being cleared in Switzerland.

“What 1MDB fails to appreciate is the clear misconduct over the management of 1MDB funds,” Bersih acting chairperson Shahrul Aman Mohd Saari told a press conference in Petaling Jaya today.

Previously, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) ordered the “disgorgement of illegally generated profits” from three banks - BSI Bank, Falcon Bank and Coutts & Co Ltd - amounting to RM430 million.

This followed the investigation by Swiss authorities into 1MDB-related transactions facilitated by the three banks without the necessary due diligence for such a transaction.

Shahrul pointed out that Finma had consistently referred to the sum as “disgorgement of illegally generated profits” or “unlawfully generated profits”.

“If you look at the official press releases put out by Finma detailing their sanctions over these three banks, they have 1MDB written all over them.

“So how can 1MDB so casually say it has not lost any money at all?

“They call it a fine. It's not a fine. It's a disgorgement of illicit funds that went through the banks through money laundering, outright stealing and cheating,” said C4 executive director Cynthia Gabriel, who was also present at the press conference.

Read more: Kiniguide: How 1MDB funds did (or didn’t) end up in Switzerland

Cynthia also pointed out the efforts by Swiss lawmaker Carlo Sommaruga in tabling a motion seeking the restitution of illicitly-generated funds to their country of origin.

Though the motion was defeated, she said Sommaruga was already in the process of drafting a second motion on the same issue.

The first motion had been defeated on technical grounds, with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignacio Cassis saying the motion was too broad and that it was premature to rule a judgment in order to preserve their doctrine of separation of powers.

Meanwhile, C4 and Bersih said they would continue to assist with the asset recovery process by sending an “amicus curiae” submission to the Swiss courts.

Amicus curiae refers to someone who is not a party to a case and is not solicited by any party, but who wants to assist a court by offering information that has a bearing on the case.