Najib received US$681mil, returned US$620mil to Singaporean firm, court told

A witness told the High Court that Najib Razak received substantial funds from Tanore Finance Corporation, a firm controlled by alleged Jho Low associate, Tan Kim Loong. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: An investigating officer told the High Court in Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial that the former prime minister returned more than US$620 million to a Singaporean entity five months after it deposited funds into his account.

Foo Wei Min, of Bukit Aman’s commercial crime investigation department, said between March 21 and 25, 2013, a sum of US$681 million was credited into Najib’s AmBank account ending with the digits “694” in nine transactions.

The money came from Tanore Finance Corporation, a firm controlled by Tan Kim Loong. Tan is believed to be an associate of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low.

Foo told the court that a sum of US$620 million – equivalent to RM2.03 billion at the time – was returned to Tanore, between Aug 3 and 23, 2013.

Meanwhile, RM162.4 million was transferred to a new AmBank account bearing an account number ending with “880” belonging to Najib.

“The ‘694’ account was closed on Aug 26, (2013),” said Foo.

The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah on Oct 18.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited in his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014. - FMT