RM114m belonged to Umno, not part of my assets: Najib

The RM114 million that was previously ordered returned by the court belonged to Umno and was not part of his assets, contended the party’s former president Najib Abdul Razak.

In his affidavit replying to 1MDB’s lawsuit against him, the former prime minister explained that this was the reason why his asset disclosure did not contain the RM114 million.

Two months ago, as part of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund’s civil action against Najib, 1MDB accused the former finance minister of merely making partial disclosure of assets for failing to include the RM114 million.

1MDB chairperson Johan Mahmood in an affidavit claimed that Najib declared RM1,010,258.62 in his bank accounts which did not include the RM114 million in cash released by the court in 2021.

In 2021, a separate court in Kuala Lumpur denied the government’s 1MDB-linked forfeiture action against the RM114 million, with the money returned to Najib and Umno.

“I verily state that the RM114 million that was reported to be returned to me does not form part of my assets.

“Because, at all material times, the RM114 million was held by me on trust on behalf of Umno following the 14th general election that had just concluded days before the raid in my apartment (in May 2018).

“As the then president of Umno, I was entrusted with said funds for purposes of the elections; however, the said money does not belong to me.

“Therefore, any non-disclosure as alleged is vehemently denied,” Najib said in the affidavit filed on Wednesday last week, which was confirmed by his counsel, Muhammad Farhan Muhammad Shafee, to Malaysiakini.

In response to Johan’s earlier affidavit about the alleged discrepancy between Najib’s asset disclosure in the present 1MDB suit versus that for a separate civil action against him by SRC International (a former subsidiary of 1MDB), Najib claimed that this was because the SRC asset disclosure was done last year.

This was at a time when his lawyers did not have all the necessary financial information prior to the deadline for filing.

Najib explained that just before his asset disclosure for the present 1MDB lawsuit, his counsel had obtained further and complete information about his Affin bank account and his Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) savings.

The former Pekan MP contended this showed that there is no attempt to hide his assets from 1MDB.

Najib said that among the additions to the asset disclosure made possible by the newly acquired information by his accountant included a Range Rover - gifted by the Johor ruler - that was inadvertently left out of his initial disclosure.

Last year, in relation to the separate lawsuit by SRC, Najib made a court filing on his assets amounting to RM4.49 million.

In relation to the present suit, 1MDB and its four subsidiaries are suing Najib and several other defendants for RM23 billion.

The fund’s four subsidiaries are 1MDB Energy Holdings Limited, 1MDB Energy Limited, 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited, and British Virgin Islands-based Global Diversified Investment Company Limited (previously known as 1MDB Global Investments Limited).

In total, 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International launched 22 civil suits in 2021, targeting those who purportedly defrauded the two government-owned entities, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur has previously set July 14 to hear Najib’s bid to quash a Mareva injunction that sought to prevent him from dissipating US$681 million (RM3.1 billion) in assets, pending disposal of 1MDB’s civil action.

Najib is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence in relation to a corruption case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International. - Mkini