US begins return of $200 million in 1MDB funds to Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR -- The US government has begun returning to Malaysia some $200 million recovered from asset seizures linked to state fund 1MDB, with about a quarter of the amount already repatriated, the two countries said on Tuesday.

Malaysian and US authorities say about $4.5 billion were allegedly siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state fund founded in 2009 by then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.

Since losing a general election last year, Najib has been charged with more than 40 criminal offences linked to losses at 1MDB and other state entities. He has pleaded not guilty.

Since 2016, the US Department of Justice, in the biggest ever case in its anti-kleptocracy program, has filed civil lawsuits seeking to seize about $1.7 billion in assets allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB funds, including a private jet, luxury real estate, artwork, and jewelry.

The United States will return to Malaysia about $196 million in the first installment of funds recovered from the asset seizures, US ambassador to Malaysia, Kamala Shirin Lahkdhir, said in a statement.

“We are extremely pleased that this first tranche of assets from this Justice Department investigation is being transferred back to Malaysia, demonstrating the U.S. commitment to return these assets for the benefit of the people of Malaysia,” she said.

So far, $57 million has been returned to Malaysia following a settlement reached with Hollywood film production company Red Granite Pictures, which is linked to Najib's stepson Riza Aziz, Malaysia's Attorney General Tommy Thomas said in a statement.

Red Granite had paid the US government $60 million in September 2017 to settle a civil forfeiture claim over the rights to the 2013 Oscar-nominated film The Wolf of Wall Street, which the DoJ says was financed with 1MDB funds.

A deduction of $3 million from the settlement was made to reimburse costs incurred by US authorities in "investigating, seizing, litigating and securing settlement of the Red Granite funds," Thomas said.

The DoJ is also in the process of remitting another $139 million, pending the sale of a Manhattan property linked to fugitive Malaysian financier, Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, Thomas said.

Low is facing criminal charges in Malaysia and the United States over his alleged central role in the 1MDB case. He has consistently denied wrongdoing and his whereabouts is unknown.

The latest money returned by the United States brings the total amount recovered by Malaysia to $322 million. This includes $126 million from the sale of a 300-foot luxury yacht allegedly bought by Low with 1MDB funds, Thomas said.

Singapore authorities have also ordered a separate return of S$50 million ($36.70 million) in 1MDB-linked funds to Malaysia, he added.

At least six countries, including the United States, Singapore and Switzerland, are investigating alleged graft and money laundering at 1MDB.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Malaysian police: $28.6 million in cash, luxury bags found in apartment of ex-PM's kin

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian police said Friday that cash worth 114 million ringgit ($28.6 million) and over 400 luxury handbags were seized from several apartments as part of an anti-graft probe into a state fund founded by former premier Najib Razak.

Najib's home and the apartments of a son and a daughter were among a dozen properties searched since May 18, Amar Singh, the head of the Malaysian police commercial crime division, told a news conference.

Since his defeat in an election on May 9, Najib has been barred from leaving the country by the new government, which has relaunched an investigation into billions of dollars missing from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

At one empty apartment, officers found 35 bags stuffed with cash valued at 114 million ringgit. The banknotes were in 26 currencies, though the largest amounts were in ringgit and Singapore dollars.

"We have sat together with bank officials to tally and estimate the total cash seized," Singh said.

Singh said the empty apartment in Pavillion Residences in the Bukit Bintang neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur did not belong to any of Najib's family members. He declined to name the owner.

Police also found 284 boxes of handbags in the apartment, and 150 more handbags were seized from the daughter's home, along with various shoes. Singh said most of the bags appeared to be from the Hermes brand. 

"We have had discussions with Hermes, and we will take pictures and send them to Paris to verify their authenticity and their value," Singh said.

Experts were being brought in to value the jewelry, watches and other luxury items seized during the raid.

Singh said half a million ringgit, excluding foreign currency, was found at Najib's home.

Najib concluded giving a statement to anti-graft agents on Thursday that was related to transactions of $10.6 million into his bank account that investigators had traced to a former unit of 1MDB.

Najib, who led the country for almost a decade, has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

PARTY WANTS ITS MONEY BACK

Late on Thursday, Najib's defeated United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) asked police to return to the party money seized during the raids, describing it as campaign contributions and party funding left over after the election.

UMNO said the funds were in the process of being transferred to the party's new leadership when they were seized.

"As such, UMNO seeks to recover these funds and requests the police to release these funds and return them to the party after completion of all due process and investigations by the relevant authorities," the party said.

Out of power for the first time since independence six decades ago, UMNO said it needed the money to recover from its defeat.

"UMNO is in the process of rebuilding and the return of our party funds will help in this process," the statement said.

Najib quit as president of UMNO a day after the election, and was replaced by his deputy Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The new government is led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister and UMNO leader who joined the opposition to defeat his erstwhile protege after becoming convinced of his corruption.

UMNO has long been known for its 'money politics', as the party has built its support among ethnic Malays through a system of patronage.

The UMNO statement noted that Mahathir had handed back 1.2 billion ringgit ($301 million) to the party and its 3 million members when he stepped down as party president in 2003.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

More than $1-B transferred into Malaysia PM's accounts: WSJ

KUALA LUMPUR - Deposits into Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's bank accounts ran to hundreds of millions of dollars more than previously identified by probes into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

Citing two unnamed people familiar with flows into Najib's accounts and a person familiar with one overseas investigation, the report said that more than $1 billion was deposited from 2011 to 2013, far more than the $681 million earlier identified.

The paper said global investigators believe much of the $1 billion originated with the state fund, known as 1MDB, but did not specify where the extra money came from or what happened to it.

The report contradicts a conclusion reached recently by Malaysia's chief law officer.

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib in January of any corruption or criminal offences, saying the $681 million transferred into Najib's account was a gift from a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family and that most of it was returned.

A government spokesman said Malaysian authorities had gone to Saudi Arabia to "examine documentation" and interviewed members of the royal family and officials who handled the donations.

"As stated by the attorney-general of Malaysia, the funds received were a donation from Saudi Arabia," the spokesman said in a statement in response to the latest report.

Najib has been buffeted for months by allegations of graft and financial mismanagement at debt-burdened 1MDB and in particular by revelations of the transfer of around $681 million into his account in 2013.

He has denied wrongdoing, saying the funds were a legal political donation and he did not take any money for personal gain.

The Wall Street Journal report said money beyond the $681 million arrived in Najib's account in 2011 and 2012.

It said investigators in two countries believed funds originated from 1MDB and moved through a complex web of transactions. Najib is chairman of the board of advisors to IMDB, a fund set up in 2009, when he came to office, to invest in projects of national importance.

In response to the WSJ report, 1MDB said it has consistently maintained that it has not paid any funds to the personal accounts of the Prime Minister.

"This has been reiterated by multiple lawful authorities including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Malaysian Attorney General, and various reputable international publications, who have confirmed that these funds came from Saudi Arabia," it said in an email response.

Probes into the fund's finances have been opened in Malaysia, the United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, the Wall Street Journal said. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by John Chalmers and Alex Richardson)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com