Najib says Jakel paid for cloth distributed to 7,000 mosques

Former PM Najib Razak says western media and Pakatan Harapan had wrongly claimed that he and his wife spent RM55 million at Jakel on lavish clothes.

PETALING JAYA: Najib Razak says the payment made to textile giant Jakel Trading Sdn Bhd from his account was for cloth supplied to 7,000 mosques.

In a Facebook post, Najib said western media and Pakatan Harapan had claimed that he and his wife spent RM55 million at Jakel on lavish clothes.

“The truth is, the money was payment to Jakel to supply sarongs, robes and other supplies through NGOs and parties to over 7,000 mosques nationwide in conjunction with Ramadan for several consecutive years.”

Earlier today, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) filed civil forfeiture applications against 41 individuals and entities to recover money allegedly transferred from Najib’s account.

MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said the forfeitures, filed under Section 56 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act, were to recover RM270 million of 1MDB money transferred to Najib’s account and later to the individuals and entities, including Jakel.

Najib said it was “strange” that even Jakel had been accused of receiving illicit funds when they were only supplying cloth to Umno and NGOs for charity programmes.

“The money was not donated to Jakel, it was payment to them for purchases.”

This, he said, was why he felt MACC’s latest move is politically motivated to weaken the opposition.

“After a year of investigations, MACC could not charge a single recipient with a criminal charge.

“This is why they have to resort to a civil suit.”

Najib also noted that during his SRC International trial, the court heard that the donation he received from a Saudi prince included RM304 million.

This, he said, was deposited into his account by the Saudi Arabian finance ministry, and he was given the freedom to manage the funds.

“I chose to use it for charity projects through NGOs and political parties who organised charity programmes.

“The money was not used for me or my family.” - FMT