Malaysia 1MDB scandal: Swiss court convicts 2 executives in US$1.8 billion embezzlement case
The verdict marks the latest development in the complex international corruption scandal
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court convicted on Wednesday two executives at an oil exploration company for embezzling more than US$1.8 billion from Malaysia’s state investment fund 1MDB.
Swiss-British national Patrick Mahony and Swiss-Saudi Tarek Obaid were also ordered to pay back more than US$1.75 billion to the fund, which was at the centre of an international kleptocracy scandal.
The difference between the two amounts was interest payments the fraudsters paid back to 1MDB during the scam.
The verdict was the latest episode in the 1MDB affair, a complex tale of international corruption that has buffeted a slew of financial institutions and individuals across the globe since allegations of wrongdoing first surfaced in 2015.
Prosecutors alleged that Mahony and Obaid had helped to set up a joint venture with 1MDB by creating the impression that their company, PetroSaudi, was backed by the Saudi government.
This was not in fact the case, but the accused managed to persuade 1MDB’s board into signing up to the scheme in 2009 before going on to defraud the fund, prosecutors said
