Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak speaks to Reuters during an interview in Langkawi, Malaysia June 19, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su
ABANDONED by his party and erstwhile friends, Najib Razak has now thrown everyone under the bus by denying any culpability and responsibility for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal or its money found in his accounts.
Malaysia’s former prime minister can now expect the same treatment from those being sought after in connection of the multi-billion ringgit scandal that threatens the country’s credit standing and finances.
And those reprisals could very well help send Najib, scion of the Razak political family, to jail for a long time if what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says is true.
Just after losing power on May 9, Najib had sent word to his inner circle that he would bear the brunt of all action from the new government as long as his aides kept being loyal to him.
But the Reuters interview published yesterday signals a change of strategy that is consistent with avoiding responsibility and laying it at the feet of his aides – some of whom have passed on or are hiding in safe houses across the world.
The former prime minister did however have explanations for the vast sums of cash, luxury handbags and jewellery recently seized from his homes by the authorities.
Speaking to Reuters in his first sit-down interview since his shock May 9 election defeat, Najib said his advisers and the 1MDB management and board had wrongly kept the alleged embezzlement of funds a secret from him.
Najib, in some of his most extensive comments yet on the 1MDB scandal, said he did not know if hundreds of millions of dollars that moved through his personal account was from 1MDB, and if money from the fund was eventually laundered to acquire assets globally, including yachts, paintings, gems and prime real estate.
“I’m not party to the yacht, the paintings…I’ve never seen those paintings whatsoever,” said the country’s sixth prime minister until May 9.
Malaysian investigators looking into 1MDB say they believe that Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor have amassed vast amounts of wealth and property using funds from the state fund. Rosmah briefly appeared at the interview but Najib said she would not take questions.
Nearly 300 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of bags filled with cash and jewellery were among the items taken away by police in raids at properties linked to Najib’s family. Items included Birkin handbags from the luxury goods maker Hermes, each worth up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Najib said the public seizure of handbags and other luxury items created a negative perception but most were gifts given to his wife and daughter and had nothing to do with 1MDB.
Najib said his son-in-law Daniyar Nazarbayev, the nephew of Kazakstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, also gifted many of the handbags to Rosmah.
“People might find it hard to understand, but my son-in-law for example, he gets Birkin from his source, five or six at one go,” he said, adding the gifts came from abroad and not linked to 1MDB.
He also said RM114 million found at his family home in Kuala Lumpur were party funds belonging to Umno, which he was president until he stepped down shortly after the polls.
For now, Najib is trying to shape and bend the narrative of the loot and money that moved into his accounts.
He now has to wait to hear what will be corroborated or denied by those who have turned state witness and those offering to shed some light into the scandal that will cost Malaysia billions in years to come. – THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
Report: Putrajaya widening 1MDB dragnet to BN politicians, law firms
KUALA LUMPUR— The multi-agency probe on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal could entangle Barisan Nasional (BN) politicians or political parties that received the state investment company’s funds.
According to Singapore daily The Straits Times (ST), the investigation would also be expanded to include law firms that handled transactions for such personalities and entities.
The officials would not identify the politicians or law firms as the ongoing investigations were now at a “sensitive” point, the paper reported.
The ST noted allegations that 1MDB changed from its initial nature as an investment fund into a “private political slush fund” for BN, adding that there were claims of BN politicians being funded by 1MDB money.
According to ST, the government could freeze the bank accounts of those with suspected 1MDB money while investigations are being completed and pending any resultant trials, adding that BN politicians voted in as state or federal lawmakers in the 14th general elections (GE14) will risk disqualification if they are determined to be guilty.
ST pointed out that the 1MDB probe could affect BN’s mainstay party Umno and component party MCA’s efforts in the wake of its GE14 defeat, saying that Umno’s private firm Temasek Padu Sdn Bhd was valued at around RM800 million while MCA’s Huaren Holdings Sdn Bhd is estimated to own business assets of over RM3 billion.
It said the potential disqualification of BN lawmakers over 1MDB funds could reduce the coalition’s voice in Parliament, where it currently has 57 seats with the bulk or 54 held by Umno, and one by MCA and two by MIC.
BN had won 79 seats during the poll, but its east Malaysian components have abandoned the coalition since to form a Borneo-based bloc, withdrawing their elected representatives in the process.
Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing over 1MDB funds, maintaining recently that he has never stolen any money.
In a report by newswire Reuters yesterday, Najib insisted that the RM2.6 billion money that was transferred into his private bank account previously was not funds misappropriated from 1MDB, but a donation from Saudi Arabia. – MALAY MAIL
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT / MALAY MAIL
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