1MDB sues Amicorp for over US$1b

Summary

• 1MDB is suing Amicorp group for over US$1 billion as part of efforts to recover assets stolen from the fund.

• It alleges that Amicorp had enabled the misappropriation of 1MDB funds.

• Amicorp reportedly set up funds that 1MDB monies were channelled to, while the money that was allegedly sent to Najib Abdul Razak in 2014 went through an account at an Amicorp Bank in Barbados.

1MDB and its subsidiaries are suing corporate services provider Amicorp Group and its co-founder Toine Knipping for over US$1 billion.

The suit, filed in the British Virgin Islands on Dec 20, is being framed as part of the global effort to recover assets stolen from 1MDB.

In a statement, the company accused Amicorp of enabling the misappropriation of funds from 1MDB.

“We are bringing this action to seek justice for the role we allege Amicorp played in facilitating the laundering and ultimate dissipation of billions of dollars in stolen funds.

“We allege this was achieved through the creation of structures designed to purposefully obscure the theft, and that Amicorp deliberately and knowingly created complex structures to mask the stolen monies as assets and make them difficult to trace,” a 1MDB spokesperson said.

Amicorp was first implicated in the 1MDB scandal in 2016 during a Singapore criminal trial concerning the sovereign wealth fund’s transactions.

Among others, Amicorp reportedly played a role in creating funds that 1MDB monies were routed to.

Last year during Najib Abdul Razak’s 1MDB corruption trial, RM45.8 million that the former premier was accused of receiving in 2014 was routed through an account at Amicorp Bank in Barbados.

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