SEVERAL foreign jurisdictions, including parts of West Asia, have emerged as preferred destinations for influential individuals and financial criminals seeking to conceal illicit wealth through offshore accounts and the purchase of luxury residential and commercial properties, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has warned.
MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said investigations had shown that certain countries were being used as safe havens to hide illegal funds, citing cases linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and billions of ringgit in assets allegedly concealed abroad by former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin across six countries.
According to Azam, West Asian nations have more recently been detected as new destinations for such funds, driven by factors including their openness to receiving questionable money from specific entities and individuals.
“Recently, we have detected that these countries have become a focal point for those involved in suspicious financial activities such as money laundering,” he said.
“There, they can bring in cash and even deposit the funds in banks, and because of that, it has become a choice, including for individuals from Malaysia,” he told Metro Ahad.
Azam said many countries, including Malaysia, reject funds of dubious origin and are bound by strict anti-money laundering compliance requirements.
“However, in those countries, such policies are not practised, and in the cases we are investigating, there are high-profile, well-known figures who own luxury assets there. Investigations found that these assets were purchased in cash,” he said.
He acknowledged that tracing and recovering funds that have been hidden or moved abroad was a complex and time-consuming task.
“Without cooperation and assistance from the enforcement agencies of the countries involved, it will take time and pose challenges to the MACC,” he said.
“Nevertheless, efforts to trace these illicit funds will continue to be intensified so that stolen money can be recovered and national assets restored.”
The practice of placing illegal funds in offshore accounts to evade scrutiny by domestic authorities remains a common modus operandi among organised crime groups and powerful individuals seeking to hide large sums of money. Offshore accounts refer to banking or financial structures established outside the account holder’s country of residence.
In principle, such accounts are not illegal and are widely used by multinational companies and investors. However, global disclosures such as the Panama Papers, Pandora Papers and FinCEN Files have exposed how the same systems are manipulated to conceal criminal proceeds through layers of companies and accounts.
Security expert Prof Dr Mohd Mizan Mohd Aslam said offshore accounts are deliberately used to complicate efforts by authorities to track illicit funds.
“However, this does not mean offshore accounts are immune from the law, but the process of obtaining details about such accounts is more complicated and time-consuming,” he said.
“Typically, the illicit funds will be transferred to accounts owned by other companies or individuals across several countries before eventually being placed into offshore accounts.”
He said this method was intended to confuse investigators before the money effectively “disappears” into offshore structures.
Mohd Mizan described offshore accounts as a “safe deposit” commonly used to store illicit proceeds.
“These accounts are usually used for illicit funds such as bribes, extortion money, savings of organised crime groups and even by international intelligence agencies, often registered under the names of specific companies,” he said.
“This does not mean offshore systems are completely immune, but they significantly complicate detection because authorities must comply with lengthy procedures and bureaucracy.”
He added that financial criminals do not merely stash money but construct elaborate financial structures involving multiple countries, entities and accounts before the funds reach their final destination.
“Local authorities do not have direct access to the targeted accounts and must instead apply through court orders or rely on international inter-agency cooperation to obtain transaction details,” he said.
According to Mohd Mizan, offshore accounts are not an absolute shield for illegal funds but serve primarily as a method to delay detection, as they require cooperation from multiple parties across jurisdictions. - February 1, 2026
