21 Apr 2024, 00:04 Kuching
20 Apr 2024, 17:04 London
A Malaysian-born lawyer in Australia has said US action against assets linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is legally flawed
Quintin Rozario, a prominent litigation lawyer in Brisbane, said the US Attorney-General, Loretta Lynch, had committed “excesses and breaches of natural justice” by making public statements on Malaysian individuals that allegedly laundered illicit funds into the United States.
Last week, the US Justice Department filed a complaint to enable the seizure of assets said to have been acquired with funds embezzled from 1MDB.
Rozario told Bernama from Brisbane that Lynch overstepped the mark and her authority by concluding that an offence or offences had been committed by Malaysia or its agents.
He cited a US Supreme Court decision that held that offences committed by anyone resident in the US could not be attributed to their government, or in this case, to 1MDB.
Rozario accused Lynch and the United States of using strong-arm tactics against smaller states by appropriating to itself powers that usurped Malaysia’s sovereignty and the powers of US and Malaysian courts.
Was this the best that Bernama’s UMNO bosses could dredge up?
Obviously yes. A Malaysian “prominent litigation lawyer”, who has made it to the heady heights of Brisbane!
Presumably, no one in the US or indeed anywhere else, has yet been found prepared to make such silly comments, unless engaged on a formal basis (Najib says he has decided against legal action – no surprise there) … after all top lawyers have their reputations to think about in the cut throat real world.
We can expect a lot more silly stuff from the few non-entities willing to stick up for Najib in the face of overwhelming evidence from the DOJ over the next days. The sort of people who have nothing to lose in terms of credibility, because they are of little note to begin with.
Meanwhile, set these claims alongside the acknowledgement by Australian Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, someone who is definitely worth listening to:
“The allegations involving 1MDB are serious and subject to ongoing investigations in more than one jurisdiction”,
Indeed. What does Quentin have to say about the Swiss, Singaporean, Luxembourg and other statements on the case? Have these national prosecutors botched up their jobs as well? Funny no one has yet bothered to hire him to get things right in any of these countries…. maybe a career outside Brisbane may one day beckon.
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