A single moment of fear inside Putrajaya sparked a purge that ultimately exposed, rather than protected, the truth behind 1MDB.
By Dr Mohd Safar Hasim
When the history of 1MDB is finally written with the clarity it deserves, scholars will point not only to the billions stolen or the global investigations that followed, but to a single, almost mundane moment — a “chance” encounter at a shopping mall in 2015 between a then serving Attorney General (AG) and also a serving Deputy Prime Minister (DPM).
It was a meeting that should have meant nothing. Instead, it became the spark that ignited the most dramatic purge in modern Malaysian governance — the sudden removal of the AG, the dismissal of the DPM, the dismantling of the multiagency 1MDB Task Force, and the attempted suffocation of an investigation that was closing in on the truth.
What then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak intended as a decisive strike to protect himself became the moment the 1MDB cover-up began to collapse. The purge did not seal the fortress — it cracked it open. And from that crack, the truth escaped, travelled across borders, and eventually returned with the force of international law.
The Purge That Exposed the Cracks
The “chance” mall encounter occurred at the precise moment when the 1MDB Special Task Force — an independent alliance of the AG’s Chambers (AGC), Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), MACC, and the Royal Malaysia Police — was closing in on the truth.
Evidence was being consolidated. SRC charge papers were reportedly being prepared. Investigators were coordinating across agencies in a way Malaysia had not seen before.
Inside Putrajaya, this convergence of institutional integrity was seen not as a triumph of governance, but as a threat.
So, when Najib was told that the duo had been spotted together, he interpreted it not as a coincidence but as a conspiracy. The AG and the DPM — two of the most senior officers in government — were, in his mind, aligning against him. That perception triggered the purge.
On 27 July 2015, in a single sweep:
* The AG was terminated
* The DPM was removed
* The 1MDB Task Force was disbanded
* MACC officers were raided, interrogated, and transferred
The High Court would later describe Najib’s actions as “drastic,” taken to “protect and consolidate his interest in 1MDB.” This was the moment the cover-up became undeniable — and the moment it began to unravel.
The Attempted Suffocation of the Task Force
The purge was not merely political. It was operational. The then late Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Ali Hamsa, testified that he personally went to the AGC to hand the termination letter to the AG. He also testified that Najib instructed him to tell the Attorney General not to remove any documents — a revealing detail that speaks to the fear of what the AG might have been holding.
Within MACC, officers like Dato’ Bahri Mohd Zin and Dato’ Shukri Abdull were interrogated, transferred, or threatened. Bahri famously declared: “Kamu ada kuasa. Aku ada Allah.”
It was not bravado. It was a declaration of moral clarity. Bahri understood that evidence could disappear. Files could be seized. Servers could be wiped. So, he and his team safeguarded the truth. Documents were duplicated. Key materials were secured. Trusted officers were entrusted with copies.
This was not a rebellion. It was preservation of evidence, of integrity, of the nation’s future.
At BNM, analysts continued tracing money flows with forensic precision. At the AGC, officers who had worked under the deposed AG kept their files intact. At MACC, investigators continued their work despite raids and interrogations. These were not loud heroes. They were quiet guardians — the kind who keep institutions alive when leadership fails.
Their actions ensured that when the political winds shifted in 2018, the truth was still intact, waiting to be revived.
When Malaysia Shut Its Doors, the United States Opened Theirs
With the Task Force dismantled and key officers removed, Malaysia’s internal investigation stalled. But corruption does not respect borders — and neither does money laundering. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stepped in.
What began as a Malaysian scandal became a global case study in kleptocracy. The DOJ traced billions through American banks, shell companies, luxury real estate, and Hollywood productions. It became the largest asset recovery action in U.S. history.
The purge that was meant to bury the truth in Malaysia had instead pushed the truth into the hands of a superpower.
By 2024, the DOJ announced it had returned US$1.4 billion to Malaysia. Another US$20 million was recovered by 2025.
The fortress Najib tried to seal in 2015 was now being dismantled brick by brick — not in Putrajaya, but in Washington, New York, and Los Angeles.
2018: When the Truth Finally Breathed Again
When the political landscape changed in May 2018, the fear that had paralysed Malaysia’s institutions began to lift. Officers who had been sidelined were called back. Files that had been hidden for protection resurfaced. Evidence that had been duplicated in secret was finally brought into the open.
The SRC case — once declared “no further action” — was completed in less than two months. The 1MDB case, long buried under political pressure, was reopened.
The Task Force was reconstituted. The investigations resumed with unprecedented speed. What had been suppressed for years now surged forward.
The officers who had been punished for doing their jobs, including many unnamed civil servants, were vindicated. Their warnings, their sacrifices, and their quiet acts of resistance were finally recognised as the backbone of Malaysia’s institutional resilience.
The purge had failed. The truth had survived. And the cover-up had collapsed under the weight of its own fear.
The Lesson Malaysia Must Never Forget
The 1MDB saga is often described as a story of corruption. But it is, more profoundly, a story of institutional courage — and the price paid by those who upheld their oath when others abandoned theirs.
It teaches us that:
* Institutions do not fail because of corruption alone. They fail when good people stay silent.
* Institutions do not survive because of laws alone. They survive because individuals choose integrity over convenience.
* Power can intimidate, threaten, and punish. But it cannot erase the truth when principled officers refuse to surrender it.
If there is a phrase that captures the moral of 1MDB, it is this: “Power can delay the truth — but it cannot defeat it.”
Malaysia owes a debt to the men and women — named and unnamed — who held the line when the nation needed them most. Their courage ensured that the truth survived long enough to reach the courts. Their integrity ensured that justice could one day be done. They are the unsung heroes of 1MDB.
And their story is a reminder that the fight for integrity never ends.
The views expressed here are entirely those of Dr Mohd Safar Hasim, a Council Member of the Malaysian Press Institute