Malaysia set to sell items from ex-PM raid

Malaysia’s Government will sell much of the huge stash of jewellery and luxury goods, including diamond necklaces, tiaras and designer handbags, that were seized in a money-laundering probe of former leader Najib Razak, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday.

Police said 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 567 handbags, 423 watches and

234 sunglasses were confiscated last month from properties linked to Najib after the shocking electoral defeat of his long-ruling coalition. The police estimate the haul, the biggest in the country’s history, is worth over US$273 million ($403m).

Lim told the Associated Press in an interview that the Government will “try to monetise whatever we can”. He said the amount is a drop in the ocean compared to the US$12.4 billion of losses related to the defunct

1MDB investment fund set up by Najib, including from alleged theft and loans used to conceal the graft.

Malaysians have reacted with disbelief on social media at the stash that included 2200 rings, some 1400 necklaces, 14 tiaras and thousands of bracelets, earrings and brooches.

Najib has claimed most of the items were gifts from foreign dignitaries over decades and said the police valuation was grossly inflated and appeared to be a “political vengeance” against his family.

“Imagine if that amount was discovered or revealed in the United States, it would be mind boggling even for a country as wealthy, as rich as the United States,” Lim said. For a small country such as Malaysia, “it is completely out of this world”, he said.

Najib set up the 1MDB fund when he took power in 2009, but it accumulated billions in debts. US investigators say Najib’s associates stole and laundered US$4.5b from the fund from 2009 to 2014, some of which landed in Najib’s bank account. They say US$27.3m was used to buy a rare diamond necklace for his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has reopened investigations into 1MDB that were stifled under Najib’s rule, and barred Najib and his wife from leaving the country. Mahathir, previously prime minister for 22 years until 2003, was spurred out of retirement by the 1MDB scandal. Officials have said Najib may face criminal charges soon.

Lim said allegations that surfaced in 2015 that some $700 million from

1MDB was channelled into Najib’s bank accounts were the “gamechanger” that prompted Mahathir,

92, to work with former foes including himself and others who were jailed during Mahathir’s first stint as leader. AP