Malaysia has unveiled artworks by artists including Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró that authorities say were bought using money stolen from a multibillion-dollar state investment fund.
The works were acquired using funds allegedly taken from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, a Malaysian government fund set up in 2009 by then prime minister Najib Razak.
According to the US Department of Justice, more than $4.5bn (£3.3bn) was misappropriated from the fund between 2009 and 2014 and used to buy luxury homes, jewellery, yachts, private jets, artworks, and even help finance the 2013 Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street. The allegations triggered investigations in the US, Switzerland, Singapore, and several other countries and contributed to the collapse of Najib’s government in Malaysia’s 2018 general election.
Najib has denied wrongdoing, and has been imprisoned since 2022 after losing a final appeal in a corruption case involving a former 1MDB subsidiary. In December last year, a Malaysian court sentenced him to another 15 years in prison in a separate 1MDB-related case. He is appealing the conviction.
The four paintings were displayed publicly at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in Putrajaya, south of Kuala Lumpur, after being repatriated from New York on 14 April, according to Bloomberg.
The recovered works are Miró’s Composition (1953), Maurice Utrillo’s Maison de rendez-vous de chasse de Henri IV, rue Saint-Vincent, Montmartre (1934), Balthus’s Étude pour femme couchée (1948), and Picasso’s L’Ecuyère et les clowns (1961).
Malaysian authorities said the four works have a combined estimated value of about $198,125 (£145,443).
At a press conference, MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the works had been traced through the auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York before being recovered with assistance from the FBI and the US Department of Justice.
“These artworks are not merely of commercial value, but also stand as historical symbols of the country’s largest corruption scandal,” Azam said.
“This is a betrayal of the people’s money,” Azam told reporters, according to the South China Morning Post. “No matter how large the amount stolen through this scandal, every cent belonging to the people must be returned.”
The paintings arrived in Malaysia in wooden crates and were unpacked under controlled lighting and temperature conditions supervised by the National Art Gallery.
Azam said the works would be transferred to the National Art Gallery within “the next four or five days” and could later be put on public display.
“People can come and view the paintings and remember the history of the 1MDB scandal,” he said. “This is for the government to keep, so people can remember.”
US prosecutors have described fugitive financier Jho Low as one of the main architects of the 1MDB fraud. Malaysian authorities said the recovered artworks were acquired by a former 1MDB lawyer named Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, reported Bloomberg.
Investigators believe Loo received about $26m (£19m) in 1MDB-linked funds through accounts across Switzerland, Singapore and the US, with authorities alleging the money was later spent on luxury real estate and art purchases, according to South China Morning Post. Loo returned to Malaysia in 2023 and has since cooperated with investigators, while Low remains a fugitive.
The four recovered works are among 12 artworks identified by Malaysian authorities in connection with the scandal. Azam said officials are still trying to recover eight other works, which include pieces by Henri Matisse, Salvador Dalí, Alexander Calder, and another Picasso.
Authorities are also attempting to recover proceeds from the sale of Claude Monet’s Vétheuil au Soleil, which sold in Switzerland for about €25.2m (£21.7m) and is currently under seizure proceedings in the US.
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