Companies linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba reportedly received US$66 million in funds allegedly diverted from 1MDB, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The report said two companies linked to Yousef that allegedly received part of the money totalling US$50 million, were British Virgin Islands-based Densmore Investments Ltd and UAE-based Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC.

Both companies first came to public attention during a trial in Singapore in January, where errant bankers who failed to curb the laundering of 1MDB-linked funds were prosecuted.

The two companies were raised during the trial of the former Falcon Private Bank branch manager in Singapore, Jens Fred Sturzenegger.

Sturzenegger was later sentenced to 28 weeks in prison while Falcon Private Bank had its licence in Singapore revoked.

He was charged with failing to flag suspicious transactions, including a US$20 million transaction to Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC and US$30 million transactions to Densmore Investment Limited.

Both transactions originated from a Falcon Private Bank account held under Granton Property Holding Ltd, controlled by Eric Tan Kim Loong, an alias of Penang-born businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low (photo).

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) civil forfeiture suit, Granton Property Holding was a partial recipient of a US$3 billion bond raised by 1MDB for its joint-venture with Aabar Investments PJS called Abu Dhabi Malaysia Investment Company (ADMIC) in March 2013.

The money was to have been used for, among others, the Tun Razak Exchange project.

According to the DOJ's first civil forfeiture suit on 1MDB, US$1.26 billion out of the US$3 billion bond was allegedly diverted to Tanore Finance Corporation and Granton Property Holding.

Of this sum, US$835 million went to Tanore Finance Corporation while another US$430 million went to Granton Property Holding.

The DOJ claimed Tanore Finance Corporation then sent US$681 million of this money to "Malaysian Official 1" while the Singapore courts established that Granton Property Holding sent US$50 million to Densmore Investment Limited and Silver Coast Construction & Boring LLC, which WSJ claimed is linked to the UAE ambassador.

Coincidentally, Yousef was last month hit by hackers who leaked his emails, which amongst others, revealed his lobbying role against Qatar and advocacy work in Washington.

According to WSJ, some of Yousef's emails also included descriptions of meeting between his business partner Shaher Awartani and Low.

"Otaiba and Low have been associates since the early 2000s and Mr Low has described his friendship with Mr Otaiba in interviews over the years," said the report.

Yousef declined to comment but a spokesperson for the UAE embassy in Washington dismissed the emails as "orchestrated", according to the report.

“The embassy notes the existence of numerous orchestrated dossiers that have been prepared in recent weeks targeting the ambassador and which are purported to contain hacked emails.

"We also note the context of the role of the UAE in the current suspension of diplomatic and economic relations with the state of Qatar. As a result, we will not talk to or respond to any of these dossiers," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

The report also quoted a spokesperson for Low as stating that he was confident that the 1MDB case would prove to be "deeply flawed" when the facts are presented in court.

“This shows a reliance on improperly obtained and selectively leaked, unauthenticated information to support a politically motivated and unproven narrative. This creates a biased and inaccurate picture," the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify the WSJ report.