KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has frozen hundreds of bank accounts believed linked to sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, officials said yesterday, as they stepped up an anti-graft probe that could engulf former prime minister Najib Razak, reports AFP.

A special government task force investigating a corruption scandal involving 1MDB said it froze 408 bank accounts containing a total 1.1 billion ringgit ($272 million) last week.

"The accounts are believed to be connected with the misappropriation and misuse of 1MDB funds," the task force said in a statement.

"They involved nearly 900 transactions made between March 2011 and September 2015."

The funds in the frozen accounts came from individuals, political parties and non-government organisations, it said without mentioning names.

However, the task force's statement followed local media reports last week that accounts belonging Najib's political party, the once-powerful United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), had been frozen.

Najib resigned as the party's leader days after his UMNO-dominated Barisan Nasional coalition -- which ruled Malaysia for more than 60 years -- was roundly defeated in the May 9 elections. Najib is being investigated over allegations that billions of dollars were looted from 1MDB, a state fund he founded.