Bribes and threats on MACC officers to drop 1MDB probe: Report

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers investigating mismanagement at 1MDB were offered bribes of up to RM3 million to drop their investigations in 2015, the Singapore Straits Times reported today.
It said a Barisan Nasional MP was tasked to negotiate with the investigators in a bid to drop the probe.
The MP is known for getting things done for top-level officials in the previous government, it added.
"The MP personally brought a bag full of cash and offered it to my boss. But in exchange, my superior would have to abandon the case," it quoted an unnamed source as saying.
"All efforts to get him to accept the offer were declined, my boss was removed. The intense harassment and death threats began instantly.
Straits Times reported another unnamed source as saying the same MP had advised the investigators to accept the bribe and live a lavish lifestyle abroad, with monthly allowances and free lodging for the entire family.
When the investigators refused, the MP was said to have hired "a group of gangsters from a neighbouring country to intimidate" the families of the officers.
MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Shukri Abdull on Tuesday detailed a cloak and dagger conspiracy that arose soon after investigations into the RM42 million financial scandal of SRC International Sdn Bhd was concluded in 2015.
Mohd Shukri in a press conference at the commission's headquarters revealed how, fearing for his life, he was forced to flee Malaysia for the US.
Mohd Shukri, who retired as the deputy chief commissioner of the MACC two years ago, broke down as he related how he almost died and went through a harrowing experience when handling the case together with the then MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.
"I left for Washington but on arrival, I found I was still being trailed. I left by train to New York and met a friend who had worked in Singapore. This is where I was given protection for a week by three bodyguards from the New York police department.
"They also spotted the person who trailed me and they took photos of him. I sent the photos to Datuk Seri Azam ( MACC deputy commissioner Azam Baki) and told him to send the photos to the former IGP (Inspector-General of Police) and tell him to find a smarter officer to trail me as this one was stupid for I ended up spotting him instead," he said.