‘NAJIB SHOULD HAVE KEPT HIS MOUTH SHUT’: RM2.6 BILLION ONLY THE BEGINNING OF PHASE 2 FROM DR MAHATHIR & AG TOMMY – PHASE 3, THE MOTHER OF ALL KLEPTOCRACY TRIALS, INVOLVING U.S. DOJ IS ON THE WAY

World’s biggest crook – Malaysia former Prime Minister Najib Razak – has finally been arrested and charged (after spending a night in detention) for the infamous US$681 million 1MDB scandal. Popularly known amongst Malaysians as the RM2.6 billion theft, Mr. Najib has been slapped with 21 counts of money laundering and a separate 4 counts of power abuse.

Today’s charges are the latest on top of Najib’s other existing charges over a sum of RM42 million belonging to 1MDB’s former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd. Interestingly, he gets to walk away free as the Sessions Court has allowed him to pay his RM3.5 million bail in instalments, a decision which has invited displeasure from netizens who think the ex-premier is given special privilege.

Ever since the collapse of Najib regime in the May 9th polls, his highly-paid cybertroopers, propagandists and bloggers have been crying and screaming until foaming at the mouth that the ex-premier was innocent because the authorities have failed to charge him for the misappropriation of US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) found in his personal bank account.

Even after he was charged in July for criminal breach of trust (CBT) and abuse of power in connection with the transfer of RM42 million to his private bank account from former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd, Najib’s band of propagandists ignorantly argued that it had nothing to do with 1MDB. They tried to twist and spin that SRC and 1MDB are two different animals.

In reality, the four charges (three CBT charges and one charge of abuse of power) were just the beginning – the appetiser. The CBT involving SRC International Sdn Bhd was the easiest part of the entire multi-billion-dollar theft concerning 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd). That’s because all the transactions of transferring the RM42 million to Najib’s private bank account were done locally.

The next phase would involve charging the ex-Thief-in-Chief over the US681 million (RM2.6 billion) transferred to his private bank account in March 2013. Today, that phase has kicked in. This second phase, slightly complicated but nevertheless a clear cut case, involved transactions that require assistance from foreign government as it involved Tanore Finance Corp account in Singapore.

The most complex of all – the coming soon “third phase” – would involve the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits filed to seize assets that it said were the result of US$4.5 billion that was misappropriated from 1MDB. Mahathir administration is working with U.S.-DOJ on what appears to be the largest action brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Now that the authorities have finally moved to the second phase of US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) found stashed in his private bank account, what does Najib’s band of supporters have to say? Ahh, they would argue that the money wasn’t from 1MDB but donations from the generous Saudi Arabia royal house. Yes, that was what serial liar Najib has tried to convince the public recently.

About a week ago, Mr. Najib claimed that he had requested for cash from Saudi King Raja Abdullah when analysis conducted prior to the 2013 General Election had shown a bleak outlook – that his government could lose. Using his Facebook, he explained how the generous Saudi royal charity house deposited into his personal AmBank account over two transactions in 2013.

Calling it a “contingency fund”, Najib spiced up his donation story – claiming that the King Abdullah had actually wanted to give him US$800 million instead, but the son of Razak only took US$681 million from the King. Najib also claimed that the money was needed to counter opposition’s plan to form a new government by buying over up to 40 Barisan Nasional Member of Parliament.

Najib talked as if King Abdullah was his own father, willingly to splash close to a billion US dollar to help a Sunni-Muslim leader (Najib Razak) from being dethroned by another Sunni-Muslim leader (Anwar Ibrahim). He might have had committed an act of treasonous and treacherous by asking for money from a foreign power to interfere in the sovereignty of Malaysia.

From the beginning, Najib’s fairy tales about the US$681 million discovered in his private bank accounts were full of contradictions. At first, he denied the existence of the money. After months of denial, he claimed it was a “donation” given to him by a Saudi royal. He had even threatened to sue (only to chicken out) the Wall Street Journal who published that the money was from 1MDB funds.

His counsel, Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, justified the U-turn not to file a defamation suit against the WSJ – “He (Najib) is not likely to get higher damages in the U.S. because he is not well known there.” And now, Najib said the money was borrowed and he had returned a huge bulk of it, proving that he wasn’t a crook who had stolen the money after all.

Najib has to make up his mind and get his story right. Was the US$681 million a donation or a loan from King Abdullah? If it was a donation, why was there a need to return it, let alone call it a “contingency fund”? Sure, the US$681 million deposited from Tanore Finance Corp account in Singapore subsequently saw the return of US$620 million back to the account in August 2013.

It’s worth to note that Najib was huffing and puffing about the so-called “contingency fund” only after Malaysia’s Deputy Police Chief Noor Rashid Ibrahim revealed that a jaw-dropping US$972 million went into Najib’s account, after moving through accounts linked to several companies (Good Star Limited, Aabar and Tanore) which had dealings with 1MDB.

But thanks to Najib’s admission (he had even released documents he claims are proof of Saudi donation) that he is indeed aware of the US$681 million flowed into his private bank account back in 2013, it makes prosecuting him for money laundering even easier. He should have kept his mouth shut and let the prosecutors prove everything.

Perhaps Najib has forgotten how he had claimed ignorance in 2015 – that he was “not aware” – of the transfers of the money to his accounts. He had even claimed that document showing the movement of cash from 1MDB through government agencies, banks and companies, before it landed at Najib’s accounts were doctored documents used to “discredit” his government.

Unfortunately for Najib, one of his important witnesses, former Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, has changed his story about the Saudi donation. Back in August 2015, Mr. Zahid declared that he had met the wealthy Arab family who had donated the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) that was channelled into then Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal account.

Widely reported by foreign news, Mr. Zahid said the “king and prince”, whom he did not name, had donated the money because of Malaysia’s commitment in fighting terrorism, and being a moderate Muslim country with a plural society. He also claimed that the Arab family was impressed by how Malaysia, with its plural society, still managed to remain moderate without sidelining any other religions.

Zahid also proudly told all and sundry at a meeting with Kepong UMNO division that the donors were “Arab king and prince”, and that the royal family had decided to make the huge donation due to Najib’s anti-Jewish stance. More importantly, he said – “I saw the documents myself – the original documents, not photostated ones, and I also saw the money trail.”

However, by July 2018, after emerged from his 8-hour grilling by the anti-corruption commission, Zahid sang a different tune. In a short press conference, he told reporters about “wakil” (representative)” of the Arab family – not “Arab king and prince” – as he had claimed 3 years ago. He didn’t brag about the documents or cheque of the so-called donations.

Regardless of Najib’s twists and spins, the money trail which we at Finance Twitter had pieced together clearly shows that even the so-called donation from King Abdullah was originated from 1MDB funds. Looking at the chart, 1MDB was flushed with funds primarily from bonds sales (US$11.5 billion) and Deutsche Bank (US$1.225 billion).

Tanore Finance Corp, from where Najib said Prince Abdulaziz Al-Saud from Saudi Arabia had sent him the RM2.6 billion donation, had actually received US$1.26 billion from 1MDB in 2013. Flushed with the money, the Tanore Finance Corp then sent US$681 million to Najib’s private account. Even the SRC International Sdn Bhd received a huge chunk of US$232.9 million indirectly from Tanore Finance Corp.

The returned US$620 million to Tanore Finance Corp was later used to purchase a 22-K pink diamond necklace worth a staggering US$27.3 million, after US$32.76 million was transferred from Midhurst to a DBS Singapore bank account for Blackrock, one of many accounts held nominally by fugitive Jho Low under the alias of Eric Tan.

Therefore, it’s not an exaggeration to say that from the beginning Tanore Finance Corp was being used by Najib Razak (and the so-called Saudi royal family) together with his partner-in-crime Jho Low to launder money from 1MDB funds. The US-DOJ investigation shows no proof that the Saudi Prince Abdulaziz Al-Saud had funded Najib’s account from the royal house’s own money.

– Finance Twitter