Federal commercial crime investigation department director Mohd Kamarudin Din said a police team was ready to go to Singapore from March 29 to 31 to continue their investigation into the case involving the husband of former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Tawfiq is alleged to have received funds from 1MDB transferred to a bank account he owned in Singapore.
“We have witnesses involving those from the banking sector. They all agreed to cooperate. Maybe, after that, we may have more witnesses, depending on the investigation,” Kamarudin told reporters here this morning.
He said the team hoped to obtain documents so they can wrap up the probe and send their investigation paper to the deputy public prosecutor.
The police had been criticised for the delay in completing their investigation after deputy law minister Mas Ermieyati Samsudin told Parliament they were unable to travel as the borders had been closed following the suspension of the Vaccination Travel Lane (VTL) programme between the two countries.
Subsequently, Singapore said it proposed for the Malaysian team to visit between Feb 8 and 9, but the Malaysian side only responded on March 10, requesting to enter the republic in mid to late March.
The police gave several reasons for the delay, including the investigating officer having contracted Covid-19, as well as getting witnesses to agree to give their cooperation.
Singapore police were reported to have informed BNM of suspicious transactions in 2015 and 2016 involving a company owned by Tawfiq and one of their sons.
CCID Scam Response Centre
Kamarudin urged the public to call the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599 if they received suspicious calls asking for private details and to transfer money.
He said they should check with the centre if they received calls from individuals claiming to be from the customs, the Inland Revenue Board, the police or other agencies.
Those threatened by scammers may also request for police to visit their homes to offer advice.
Last year, police received 2,399 calls from the public after nearly 60% of them had lost money to the scammers, while the rest managed to avoid being cheated after getting advice.
We are live on Telegram, subscribe here for breaking news and the latest announcements.