Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gestures as he delivers his
opening speech at Malaysia's ruling party United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO) general assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 21
October 2010. Source: AP /Lai Seng Sin
POLICE in Malaysia have seized hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of
luxury items including Rolex watches and Hermès handbags from several
properties owned by former Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The total value of the goods is estimated to be up to 1.1 billion
Malaysian Ringgit (US$273 million) said the Royal Malaysian Police’s
director of commercial crime investigation Amar Singh in a press
conference on Wednesday.
The former premier is being investigated over accusations he siphoned
off billions of dollars from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a
state-owned company established by Najib’s administration in
2009 ostensibly to help fund national economic development.
In what Singh called the “biggest seizure in Malaysian history”, police
searched six properties owned by Najib in Kuala Lumpur and the
administrative capital Putrajaya, finding a treasure trove of cash,
luxury handbags, watches and jewellery.
A team of 150 officers were required to work over the Eid holiday
analyse the goods, he said. Some 35 bags contained RM116.7 million
(US$29 million) in cash from 26 different currencies, taking three days
to count.
Singh said police were holding 25 bags of gold, diamonds and other gems,
valued by an expert at RM442 million (US$110 million). The items
numbered 12,000 in total including 1400 necklaces, 2200 rings, 2100
bangles, 2800 pairs of earrings and 14 tiaras.
A singular necklace had the shop price of RM6.4 million (US$1.6
million), Singh said. The collection of 567 handbags from Hermès, Prada,
Chanel and special-order luxury brand Bijan were worth RM51.3 million
(US$13 million).
Commissioner Amar Singh, Malaysia’s Federal Commercial Crime
Investigation Department (CCID) director, displays a photo of items from
a raid during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia June 27,
2018. Source: Reuters/Lai Seng Sin
Some 423 watches seized were worth 78 million (US$19 million), with one
Rolex valued at almost US$900,000. There were also RM374,000 (US$93,000)
worth of sunglasses.
Najib has denied that the goods were purchased with funds from 1MDB,
claiming that the cash, luxury handbags and jewellery were gifts to his
family.
Singh said police would “soon” be questioning Najib and his wife Rosmah
Mansor over ownership of the items and who provided the gifts. As PM,
Najib was only paid around US$92,000 per year.
“We’re flabbergasted,” Cynthia Gabriel, executive director of the Kuala
Lumpur-based Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
told Asian Correspondent. “We
continue to be shocked by much wealth has been amassed by the abuse of
power by Najib during the time he was Prime Minister.”
“It is perhaps the largest corruption scandal in the world now,” she
said, adding that the raids “show that there’s so much more that needs
to connect in terms of the financial flows, the losses that have taken
place.”
A report published by the Wall Street Journalon
Tuesday claimed that Rosmah was likely a “political force” and “central
actor” in the 1MDB affair, driven by her taste for expensive luxury
goods.
Media coverage of her handbag collection in recent weeks has drawn
comparisons with Emelda Marcos, the wife of corrupt former Philippine
dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Rosmah was questioned for five hours by the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission earlier this month.
Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak,
arrives to give a statement to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC) in Putrajaya, Malaysia June 5, 2018. Source: Reuters/Lai Seng Sin
Her lawyers K. Kumaraendran and Geethan Ram Vincent denied her
involvement with 1MDB in a statement this week, claiming that “this is a
pure trial by media, expounded by the court of public opinion.”
“As the wife of the then prime minister, Rosmah stayed away from matters
dealt by Najib and never did she at any point influence the outcome of
any executive decisions made,” they said.
“Linking Rosmah directly to 1MDB and piling accusations against her, we
are afraid, is an attempt to influence the outcome of the investigations
which are currently underway and at worst, to tarnish Datin Seri
Rosmah’s image.”
She has previously rejected scrutiny of her spending as politically motivated.
PM Mahathir Mohamad, who defeated Najib in the country’s May election,
has vowed to reclaim the $4.5 billion thought to have been lost from
1MDB and has said authorities have “an almost perfect case” against his
predecessor.
Attorney General Tommy Thomas has vowed the government “will institute
criminal and civil proceedings in our courts against the alleged
wrongdoers” and that there will be “no cover up”.
Earlier this month, a source told Reuters that
Najib faces charges of money laundering and misappropriation of
property, for which he could spend up to five years in prison.
Politicians are rarely prosecuted for corruption in Malaysia in the
past, which is ranked 62 in the world on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
