1MDB PROBE FINDS $15M IN LUXURY SPENDING BY MALAYSIA PM NAJIB RAZAK: WSJ

(CNBC/WSJ) – Malaysia’s embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak spent as much as $15 million on luxury items, according to bank-transfer information from a Malaysian investigation, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The money—linked to Najib’s private bank accounts that global investors believe received millions of dollars diverted from a troubled state-investment fund—was spent on clothes, jewelry and a car, according to the bank-transfer information, involving stores in the U.S., Malaysia, Italy and elsewhere, the WSJ reported.

In July of last year, the WSJ reported allegations that nearly $700 million had flowed from 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, to Najib’s personal bank account in 2013.

Najib has repeatedly denied wrong-doing and, under pressure from the WSJ report, said at the time the funds were a private donation from a Middle Eastern country he declined to name. He has denied benefiting personally from any of the funds.

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