No pension fund went into Najib’s accounts, says Zahid

Not a single sen of the US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) transferred to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's accounts came from government pension fund, Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP), Datuk Ser‎i Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

The deputy prime minister said the money came from just one Middle Eastern donor, and that they were channelled‎ through multiple companies to avoid detection.

"No KWAP money was used by Umno or deposited into Najib's accounts. I saw the documents," ‎said Zahid when officiating the Sri Gading Umno division meeting today.

"The first US$100 million was a cheque in Najib's name. The subsequent transfer of funds went through various channels and firms because the donor did not want it to be seen that one huge cheque was written under‎ Najib's name.

‎"In the end, it was all done to help us, as political funding."‎

He did not name the donor's identity, and said if the opposition wished to know who it was, they must first reveal their own source of funds.‎

RM4 billion of KWAP funds were loaned to one of the companies, SRC International Sdn Bhd, that was part of the money trail leading to Najib's personal bank accounts in AmBank, Kuala Lumpur.

SRC International had taken the loan while it was a subsidiary of 1MDB, before it was placed under the Finance Ministry in 2012.

The lack of accountability over SRC International's operations and purpose had at one time prompted opposition politicians to call it another financial scandal in the making.

SRC International was named as the originating company for RM42 million that eventually went to Najib's accounts between December 2014 and February this year, after being transferred through Gandingan Mentari and Ihsan Perdana.

Ihsan Perdana is a firm conducting corporate social responsibility work for Najib's brainchild, state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the money trail on July 2, citing documents from Malaysia investigators.

The biggest portion of the funds was US$681 million that was transferred into Najib's accounts ahead of the general election in May 2013.

- TMI