It is one of the world's greatest financial scandals.

Billions of dollars from a state fund meant to help the Malaysian people went missing, disappearing into the shadows of the global financial system.

According to US and Malaysian prosecutors, the money lined the pockets of a few powerful individuals and was used to buy luxury real estate, a private jet, Van Gogh and Monet artworks - and to finance a Hollywood blockbuster.

Outcry over the alleged looting of 1MDB has reverberated around the world, with authorities in at least six countries probing a vast web of financial transactions stretching from Swiss banks to island tax havens to the heart of South East Asia.

The scandal even led to the toppling of the political party that governed Malaysia for all of its history as an independent nation.