Pink diamond was a gift from UAE prince, says Najib

PETALING JAYA: The 22-carat pink diamond pendant, being sought by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), was a gift from a United Arab Emirates prince, says Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Speaking to Al Jazeera’s 101 East in an exclusive interview yesterday, Najib said the prince was Sheikh Mansour, the brother of Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, who is also the chairman of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), who intended to present it to his wife.

“We know that Jho low was a close associate of Sheikh Mansour,” he said, insisting it was a gift from Sheikh Mansour, which his wife did not receive.

The DoJ has filed several lawsuits to claim about US$1.7bil (RM6.8bil) in assets believed to have been stolen from 1MDB.

“It’s a matter of dispute what happened to the pink diamond. So let’s not jump to conclusions.

“We didn’t know, as far as we were concerned it was a gift from Sheikh Mansour who would know where it came from and who paid for it. We wouldn’t know! We did not know the value of the present,” said Najib.

To a question on his stepson Riza Aziz’s funding of the Wolf of Wall Street movie and the massive expensive properties he had acquired from what the DoJ says were funds from 1MDB, Najib said Riza had always been a movie buff.

“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed told him in my presence that he was going to invest in his movies. We assumed that whatever investment that is going to come from Abu Dhabi to fund it would be a loan.

“And my stepson was prepared to pay back every single cent that was given to him as a loan,” he said.

During the hour-long interview, Najib lost his cool several times.

Later, the former prime minister apologised for his outburst, explaining that he was concerned about his wife and his sons, Norashman and Riza, who were being questioned by the police at the same time.