MALAYSIA’S ANTIGRAFT BODY CALLS UP NAJIB

>> KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Abdul Razak will be questioned by the country’s anticorruption agency on Tuesday over the US$700 million (about 22 billion baht) found in his personal bank account allegedly from the state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, a source from the agency said.

“Yes, a notice has been served to Datuk Seri Najib requesting him to appear before MACC on Tuesday.”

The notice was personally delivered by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officials to Mr Najib at his home on Friday.

This will not be the first time the MACC has questioned him over the transfer of funds.

He had his statement taken in December 2015 following an explosive report in July of that year by the New York-based Wall Street Journal claiming Mr Najib misappropriated nearly $700 million from companies linked to state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), including some from SRC International.

SRC International used to be an energy company controlled by 1MDB but is now under the Finance Ministry.

Mr Najib was the founder and, until 2016, chaired the advisory board of 1MDB. He was also the finance minister in charge of overseeing 1MBD, which currently faces multiple probes on various fronts.

MACC at that time was also probing whether there was a conflict of interest when Mr Najib chaired a cabinet meeting that approved a government guarantee on a $1.1 billion loan to SRC International from the civil servants pension fund known as Kumpulan Wang Persaraan.

The probe was scuttled when Mr Najib axed then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail and replaced him with Mohamed Apandi Ali.

In January 2016, Mr Apandi declared that the massive sum found in Mr Najib’s bank account was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family and that there was no sign of abuse of power in the approval of the government guarantee to SRC International.

He cleared Mr Najib of any criminal wrongdoing and ordered the graft agency to close the case.

But following Mr Najib’s downfall in the wake of the May 9 general election that saw his once-mighty National Front coalition routed by an unlikely coalition led by 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, the 1MDB investigation has been reopened.

Mr Mahathir, who previously ruled from 1981 to 2003, was sworn in for his second turn as Prime Minister on May 10. Among his first acts were ordering Mr Apandi to go on leave and barring Mr Najib, his wife and others linked to 1MDB from travelling abroad.

Meanwhile, as part of their parallel investigation i nto money l aundering allegations and other criminal elements involving the state fund, police have undertaken an extensive search spanning more than two days on six premises linked to Mr Najib, including his private home and his former office.

Documents were seized from the Prime Minister’s Office while hundreds of designer handbags and dozens of suitcases stuffed with cash, jewellery and other valuables were confiscated from various locations, according to Amar Singh of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department.

According to the Auditor General’s report on 1MDB that was declassified on Tuesday, mismanagement and dubious dealings led to 1MDB incurring debt to the tune of almost $10.58 billion by March 2014.

It said 1MDB’s activities at present would not generate enough revenue to pay off its debt.

The fund is now a subject of investigations in various countries including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. US authorities said an estimated $4.5 billion has been embezzled from the fund by those close to Mr Najib.