31 January 2019

1MDB Scandal – The world’s largest financial fraud

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The 1MDB scandal has been acclaimed to the be the scandal that shook the world of finance. It began with intentions of Malaysia’s state owned investment fund, 1MDB, to bring foreign investment. However, things spiralled out of control when investigators attempted to trace how the money flowed through the 1MDB fund and into personal accounts.  


1MDB Scandal

Since then former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib has been charged with dozens of counts of money laundering, corruption and criminal breach of trust all involving 1MDB funds.  

In recent news, audit firm Deloitte has been fined US $535,000 by the Malaysian Securities Commission for breaches linked to the 1MDB global financial scandal. This comes after the commission investigated auditors who had overseen the accounts. 

Deloitte accounted for 4 breaches in total despite having noted in the 1MDB Real Estate’s financial audit statements for 2015 and 2016 that they noticed “existence of material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the group’s and company’s ability to continue”. 

An interesting video explains how the 1MDB investigation led to charges against two former Goldman Sachs bankers, local financier Jho Low and ex-1MDB employee Jasmine Loo Ai Swan. 





Although charges have been laid, investigation still continues with international authorities cross collaborating to discover how billions of dollars are embezzled across Asia, Europe and USA. They are working towards eliminating corruption in the global financial system.  

Still interested: Attend Akolade’s APAC Fraud Summit 2019 which will feature Xavier Andre Justo,, Whistleblower of the 1MDB scandal. Don’t miss Xavier and explore how he brought down the Malaysian Government and the need to protect whistle-blowers. 

International Keynote: Uncovering the world’s largest financial fraud-From the eyes of a whistle-blower 
  • Exploring the changing nature of fraud and delving into how the 1MDB fraud scandal unfolded 
  • Examining how this scandal brought down the Malaysian Government and the lessons learned from this 
  • Highlighting the importance to protect whistle-blowers Xavier Andre Justo, Whistleblower, 1MDB World’s Largest Financial Fraud (Swiss Flag)

Akolade’s APAC Fraud Summit 2019


Written by: Vishi Peters, Conference Producer, Akolade Sydney