Najib says unaware of size of wife’s jewellery collection

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has claimed that he is not aware of the extent of his wife’s collection of jewellery and other items after police said they have made the biggest seizure of cash and items worth RM1.1 billion in Malaysian history.

The former prime minister told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview yesterday that the valuation of the items, in particular the jewellery which number over 12,000 pieces - seized from the six residences linked to him are subjective and unrealistic.

“It depends on the source of the stones, it depends when they were gifted or when they were purchased. Valuation can tend to differ.

“So let us not get too excited about it. Let us look at the items, every single item, and we hope to have a chance to examine these items. And (then) we can come to a conclusion on the source of the items and get an explanation on the items seized by the police,” he said in the interview.

However, Najib said he was not provided with the full and detailed list of seized items during the raids since May.

According to the former premier, he was given an incomplete list with vague descriptions, which lacked photographs of the seized items.

In a previous interview, Najib has said that most of the luxury items sized were gifts given to his wife and daughter and had nothing to do with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Amar Singh told a press conference yesterday that it took police from May 21 to June 25 to ascertain the value of the cash and items seized.

With cash and items seized amounting to between RM900 million and RM1.1 billion, Amar has said that this was the biggest seizure in Malaysian history.