PETALING JAYA: The decision to assign the police to probe Datuk Dr Tawfiq Ayman’s corruption case was made by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), says the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

       In a statement, MACC explained that its role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd-linked case was to repatriate funds, while the police handled the criminal investigation aspect.

       “In late 2018, the former attorney-general coordinated investigations between the MACC and the police in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad case involving Datuk Dr. Tawfiq Ayman, who is the husband of former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

       “The MACC's focus was to identify and recover funds related to the 1MDB case. This included a sum of US$15.4mil (RM64.45mil) involving the accounts of Cutting Edge Industries

       Ltd, which belongs to Tawfiq.

       “The AGC also instructed the police to focus on the criminal offence aspect related to the alleged transfer of 1MDB-related funds to a Singapore bank account owned by Tawfiq.

       “The investigation on this is still ongoing,” said MACC in the statement Thursday (March 3).

       MACC said the division of tasks was to avoid duplication in investigations involving the collection of evidence and testimony of those involved.

       “It also makes it easier to deal with Singapore, as the country gives priority to dealing with only one enforcement agency conducting the criminal investigations.

       “Therefore, this is not an issue of any enforcement agency failing to detect, investigate or prosecute wrongful financial transactions here, as claimed by some parties,” said the MACC.

       MACC said on its part, it had already announced on Nov 19 that the US$15.4mil had already been successfully repatriated from Singapore.