KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Malaysian government confirmed Friday that it has frozen several bank accounts related to the political party of its former Prime Minister Najib Razak in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) probe.
Its special task for 1MDB scandal said in a statement, these bank accounts are held by individuals and several organizations including the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other political parties.
"These accounts are believed to have link with the misappropriated 1MDB funds," it said.
It is also reported by local media that 1MDB has sacked its president and chief executive officer Arul Kanda Kandasam. Arul who joined 1MDB in 2015 was tasked to turn around the debt-laden state fund.
UMNO has led a multi-party coalition to govern Malaysia for six decades before being unseated in the general elections in May.
Najib himself is under investigation related to 1MDB, a state investment firm he founded when serving as Prime Minster.
Malaysian police said on Wednesday that they have seized the total value of cash and luxury items from premises related to Najib between 910 million ringgit (226 million U.S. dollars) and 1.1 billion ringgit (273 million U.S. dollars).
However, Najib responded that valuation was inflated and that most of the seized items were gifts from friend and foreign dignitaries.