Najib has RM4.49m in assets, court filing shows

 

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak filed in court that he has assets worth RM4.49 million.

The former finance minister made this disclosure to abide by a Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling requiring him to disclose his total assets, as part of its green light for a Mareva injunction against him.

Back on March 24, the court allowed the Mareva injunction bid by SRC International and its subsidiary Gandingan Mentari, as part of its main RM42 million civil action against Najib.

Under the law for civil action, a Mareva injunction is a court order which effectively freezes the assets of a defendant from being dissipated, pending the outcome of a related lawsuit. This restraining order is particularly effective over liquid assets, such as money held in financial institutions.

The injunction order directed that Najib must not remove, dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any assets in and outside of Malaysia up to the value of RM42 million, pending the final disposal of the main lawsuit.

When contacted by Malaysiakini, Najib’s counsel Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee confirmed that the asset disclosure filing was made on July 20.

Lawyer Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee

According to Najib’s additional affidavit, the former premier disclosed his total assets amounted to RM4,490,774 as of June 30.

Through the exhibit attached to the filing and attested by Najib’s accountant, his largest holding is his RM2.52 million (RM2,528,849) deposit balance in Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad as of June 13.

The filing listed his second-largest value asset being his current account balance with Affin Bank at RM1.24 million (RM1,248,938) as of June 30.

Land and wheels

The court document showed ownership of seven plots of land and property in Pahang and Selangor collectively valued at RM460,987.

The filing also listed eight vehicles - five Mercedes Benz, a Bentley Continental Flying Spur, a Honda EX5 motorcycle and Kawasaki ZG motorcycle - collectively valued at RM252,000.

The document listed four of the Mercedes, the Bentley, and the Kawasaki as having been obtained as gifts, while the other Mercedes is valued at RM250,000 and the Honda EX5 at RM2,000.

Per the Mareva injunction order, Najib - who used to be SRC’s adviser emeritus - is entitled to withdraw not more than RM100,000 a month from a bank account or other sources for the purpose of ordinary living and legal expenses.

He also faced a similar Mareva injunction order in relation to a separate US$8 billion (RM35 billion) civil suit by 1MDB against him. He used to be chairperson of the sovereign wealth fund’s board of advisers.

SRC money

In the current civil action, SRC and Gandingan Mentari are suing Najib over RM42 million that allegedly flowed from SRC into the former premier’s account.

The present suit is among the 22 civil actions launched by 1MDB and SRC last year, targeting those who purportedly defrauded the two government-owned entities, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

In July 2020, following a full Kuala Lumpur High Court criminal trial, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in jail and fined RM210 million for graft charges related to RM42 million he allegedly received from SRC.

On Dec 8 last year, the Court of Appeal upheld Najib's conviction and sentencing.

He is awaiting his appeal against the decision to be heard by the Federal Court for 10 days beginning Aug 15. - Mkini