MACC gets court order to freeze RM486m in Saudi prince's accounts

MACC has acquired a court order to freeze three Swiss bank accounts that belong to Prince Turki Abdullah Abdulaziz Al-Saud over alleged involvement in the misappropriation of 1MDB funds.

According to a statement issued by the anti-graft agency, the bank accounts contained over US$115.32 million, or RM487 million.

The restraining order was issued by the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday following an application made by MACC on Tuesday.

“This application was made based on information received by MACC in 2011, stating that Putera Turki Abdullah Abdulaziz Al-Saud had received, transferred, and used proceeds from the misappropriation of funds from 1MDB through his personal bank accounts.

“Through this order, MACC has successfully blocked transactions involving USD87,148,732.89 and USD12,777,759.74 in two bank accounts at JP Morgan, and USD15,394,169 in a bank account at UBS Switzerland,” the statement read.

MACC said the action was taken under Section 53 of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing, and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which gives law enforcement agencies the power to seek a restraining order to prevent the disposal of property suspected of being involved in money laundering or terrorism financing.

Prince Turki is the co-founder of oil-services company PetroSaudi, which is linked to the 1MDB scandal.

He is allegedly the “donor” of the billions of ringgit that went into jailed former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank account.

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