Bags, cash, jewellery seized from former PM

Malaysian police seized 284 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of bags filled with cash and jewellery on Friday from a luxury condominium in the centre of Kuala Lumpur linked to former prime minister Najeeb Razzaq.

Police have been searching Najeeb’s home and other places linked to him as part of an investigation into the scandal-plagued state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), an extraordinary turn of events that few would have predicted before a May 9 general election that he was expected to win.

Items such as Birkin handbags from Hermes, jewellery, watches and other valuables were carted out of the condominium at the upmarket Pavilion Residences, in the pre-dawn hours, police said.

“Exactly how much jewellery, I would not be able to say, because we know that we confiscated bags containing jewellery and the number of jewellery is rather big,” Amar Singh, director of police commercial crime investigations, told reporters at the scene. Shortly after Najib and his long-ruling political coalition were defeated in the polls, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad barred him and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, from leaving the country.

Mahathir, 92, who was once Najib’s mentor, says there is sufficient evidence to investigate the multi-billiondollar scandal at the 1MDB fund that Najib founded.