Police deny raid on apartment belonging to Najib’s family

KUALA LUMPUR: City police chief Comm Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim has denied a Reuters news report that police had raided a luxury apartment said to belong to family members of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“There is no raid. The police only came to get statements from auxiliary policemen based there following a police report made on a video recording.

“We came to check the CCTV footage.

“The Reuters story is not true. Fake news,” he said last night. He also questioned the sources for the news report.

Several people working at the Pavilion Residences apartment said that a police team came by on Saturday afternoon, but they were unsure why the officers dropped by.

Two youth leaders of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia had lodged a police report alleging that vans delivered boxes for 50 Birkin handbags to the apartment on Thursday evening.

Reuters quoted two unnamed senior police officers as saying that the police searched for sensitive documents which the Pakatan Harapan government fears may be taken out of the country.

Police said they were acting after a complaint that a government vehicle had delivered dozens of boxes made to carry designer handbags and other items to the apartment for Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

About 20 police officers were seen entering the apartment block, aided by at least a dozen other plainclothes officers.

“We are looking for government documents that may have been ille- gally taken,” said a senior police officer, who requested anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to the media.

“The Government is worried they could be sensitive and important, and could be taken out of the country.”

He declined to say whether any documents had been found and described the operation as “ongoing”.

According to the police, members of Najib’s family had been staying at the apartment, but they declined to name them.

The senior police officer only con- firmed “family members” of Najib had stayed in the apartment complex.

Another officer involved in the operation described the persons of interest as “VVIPs”, or very, very important persons.

Both police officers said investigators were not primarily interested in the luxury items but were chasing documents that could be vital for investigations into Najib’s administration.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has vowed to probe the loss of billions of ringgit from 1MDB which was founded by Najib.