A top-ranking Swiss official has spelled out more details on the scale of its investigations into illicit money dealings linked to Malaysia's 1MDB fund.

The Malaysian financial fraud scandal that has spread worldwide saw another twist as Swiss authorities said they are probing six individuals, including two officials from an energy company in Saudi Arabia and two former officials from Abu Dhabi sovereign funds.

The persons are being investigated on suspicion of bribery and other offences related to the Malaysian state fund 1MDB. The comments came from a statement by Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber earlier this week during a visit to Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Swiss authorities started investigations in August 2015. The 1MDB saga has become a global affair with regulatory authorities in Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the US, among others, involved in chasing after alleged illicit transactions. The former prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, has been arrested – he has consistently denied wrongdoing.
At the heart of the case are claims that the former premier, and others, siphoned millions of dollars from 1MDB for personal use.

In its statement, the office of the Swiss attorney general said the former Malaysian prime minister was not one of those persons it is investigating.

In Singapore, two banks deemed to have seriously broken money laundering controls, BSI and Falcon Private Bank, were ordered to leave the jurisdiction. This publication understands that probes in Singapore continue. The pace of investigations into 1MDB, which appeared to have stalled earlier this year, has accelerated since the shock 9 May election defeat for Najib Razak.