The US House Oversight Committee alleged that the Najib Abdul Razak administration had paid US$248,962 (RM1.15 million) to Trump International Hotel between 2017 and 2020.
According to The Edge, the 156-page report by the committee is underpinned by documents provided to House investigators by accounting firm, Mazars USA.
The report also indicated that then-US president Donald Trump hosted Najib for an official visit at the White House in September 2017.
This came at a time when the US Department of Justice was seeking to recover over US$1 billion in assets that were stolen from “a Malaysian government investment fund (sic)”, which was co-founded and managed by Najib.
The report also mentioned that Najib and other Malaysian officials had stayed at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, during the official visit.
It claimed that the officials returned to the hotel for an additional stay later that month.
Detailing the costs, it was reported that in the days before and after the White House meeting, from Sept 7 to 15, 2017, a Malaysian delegation including Najib stayed at the Trump International Hotel for a “direct bill” of US$247,352.
It was said that Najib stayed in the hotel’s presidential suite, billed at US$10,000 per night. Costs accrued by the former Pekan MP alone totalled US$44,562 over three nights and four days.
On the same issue, American daily USA Today said the House report is based on an investigation that ran for nearly seven years.
It added that records and documents obtained by House Oversight Democrats reveal “a stunning web of millions of dollars in payments made by foreign governments and their agents directly to Trump-owned businesses while Trump was president”.
Among the report’s findings, China made the most payments to Trump’s businesses during his tenure - spending more than US$5.5 million at the Trump Tower in New York and two of Trump’s hotels in Washington and Las Vegas.
Najib-Trump meet under scrutiny
On Sept 13, 2017, the White House said that it did not book Najib’s accommodation at Trump International Hotel.
“We certainly don’t book their hotel accommodation.
“I couldn't speak to the personal decision they (Najib) made on where to stay here in (Washington) DC,” then-White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was reported as saying.
On the same day, Reuters reported a senior US official as acknowledging that it was “unusual” for Trump to meet with Najib while 1MDB was under regulatory scrutiny.
“It’s a weird situation, no doubt,” the official said, referring to the DOJ investigation, explaining that the administration has prioritised developing relations with Southeast Asian countries to counter “huge gains” China has made in the region during the past decade.
In October 2017, Najib, while replying to questions in Parliament, said he did not pay for the invitation from Trump.
He also dismissed the significance of the accommodation during the visit after being questioned by then-opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Najib is currently serving 12 years in jail after the Federal Court upheld his conviction and sentence in the SRC International case.
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