美國查扣馬來西亞貪腐官員10億美元資產

The U.S. government Moved Wednesday to seize more than $1 billion in assets purchased with money that it believes was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund by people close to the country’s embattled prime minister.

美國政府於週三採取行動，要求查扣一批價值超過10億美元的資產。政府認爲，一些與醜聞纏身的馬來西亞總理關係密切的人士，用竊取自馬來西亞一家主權財富基金的錢購買了這些資產。

Hidden in the United States in real estate, art and other luxury goods, the money was embezzled from the fund and moved around the world using secretive shell companies that masked its trail, the Justice Department said.

美國司法部稱，錢被人從該基金挪用出來，通過用於掩蓋蹤跡的祕密空殼公司流向世界各地，以房地產、藝術品以及其他奢侈品的面目隱匿在美國。

The $1 billion that prosecutors say was laundered in the United States is but a portion of the billions that international investigators suspect was siphoned off by high-level officials at the fund and their associates. The fund — called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB — is overseen by the prime minister, Najib Razak.

國際調查人員懷疑該基金的高級別官員及其同夥挪用了數十億美元資金。檢察官提到的這筆在美國被洗白的10億美元，只是其中一部分。這家基金名爲一馬發展有限公司(1Malaysia Development Berhad，簡稱1MDB)，由總理納吉布·拉扎克(Najib Razak)監管。

“1MDB was ostensibly created to pursue investment and development projects for the economic benefit of Malaysia and its people, primarily relying on the issuance of various debt securities to fund these projects,” the department said in one of its court filings. “However, over the course of an approximately four-year period, between approximately 2009 and at least 2013, multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates, conspired to fraudulently divert billions of dollars from 1MDB through various means.”

“從表面看，創建1MDB的目的是推動爲馬來西亞及其人民牟取經濟效益的投資和開發項目；實現這一目的的主要途徑是提供債券保險，從而爲這些項目融資，”美國司法部在一份法庭文件中說。“然而，從2009年前後至少到2013年，在大約4年時間裏，許多人——包括一些公務員及其同夥——串通一氣，採取欺詐手段，以各種名目從1MDB挪用了數十億美元。”

The international inquiries into the sovereign wealth fund began last year after an investigative report in The New York Times. As part of a broader examination of the use of shell companies in high-end real estate in the United States, The Times traced the purchases of about $150 million in residential properties in New York and in the Los Angeles area, as well as several works of art, to relatives or associates of Najib.

在紐約時報刊發了一篇調查性報道之後，針對該主權財富基金的國際調查於去年啓動。時報對相關人員利用空殼公司購買高端房地產的情況進行了廣泛調查，發現納吉布的親屬和同夥耗資約1.5億美元在紐約和洛杉磯地區購買了住宅房產，以及一些藝術品。

The Justice Department named three of those people in its filings. One, Riza Aziz, is the stepson of Najib and a Hollywood producer of “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Another, a financier named Jho Low, is a longtime friend of Aziz. The third is Mohamed Badawy al-Husseiny, a former official at a government fund in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, that participated in deals with Malaysia’s fund.

司法部在文件中提及了其中三人的名字。包括納吉布的繼子、好萊塢製片人裏扎·阿齊茲(Riza Aziz)，出品過《華爾街之狼》(The Wolf of Wall Street)；阿齊茲的老友、金融家劉特佐(Jho Low)；第三位名叫穆罕默德·巴達維·侯賽尼(Mohamed Badawy al-Husseiny)，曾是阿聯酋阿布扎比一家與1MDB有過業務往來的政府基金的官員。

The complaint described lavish spending by the people said to be involved in the theft of funds. From October 2009 to June 2010, it said, more than $85 million was spent on gambling in Las Vegas, jet rentals, luxury yachts and payments to other individuals.

據起訴書描述，那些據稱參與了資金挪用的人出手極其闊綽。起訴書稱，從2009年10月至2010年6月，他們在拉斯維加斯豪賭，租用飛機，購買豪華遊艇，或者付錢給其他個人，總共用掉了8500萬美元。