1MDB investigator says funds in Najib's account used for politics, CSR

1MDB Trial | A 1MDB money laundering case investigation officer agreed with Najib Abdul Razak’s defence team that the former prime minister paid out millions of ringgit of legal funds to political individuals and entities.

The 48th prosecution witness Foo Wei Min agreed with lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah that the legal funds from the former finance minister’s account were also never used to buy a yacht.

Foo was replying during cross-examination by Shafee during the RM2.27 billion 1MDB corruption trial against Najib, who used to be chairperson of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund’s board of advisers.

Shafee was asking him regarding the remaining legal balance in Najib’s bank account, following RM2.27 billion of ringgit of 1MDB funds allegedly flowing in and out of his account between 2011 and 2014.

Shafee: This is important, the balance of the legal money after spending a fair bit. Do you agree that he spent a lot on political and welfare purposes, paid to Umno Batu Kawan, Penang Umno, here and there, and various expenses he made for CSR (corporate social responsibility) welfare?

Foo: Yes.

Shafee: You did tracing on why the political individuals and entities were paid?

Foo: Yes.

Shafee: It goes back to political purposes. There was no individual spending, for instance, that he went and bought a yacht?

Foo: No.

Oct 12, Foo testified that first-in, first-out (FIFO) analysis on Najib’s 694 AmIslamic Bank account showed that the former prime minister signed five cheques worth RM22.6 million involving funds purportedly embezzled from 1MDB in 2013.

Foo said in 2013, the first cheque for RM20 million was cashed into Umno’s account on Aug 2; the second cheque for RM100,000 went into Umno Batu Kawan's account on Aug 7; RM246,000 went into businessperson Lim Soon Peng’s account Aug 7, RM2 million flowed into company Orb Solutions Sdn Bhd on Aug 12; and RM303,000 cashed into firm Semarak Konsortium Satu Sdn Bhd on Aug 14.

Heated exchange

However, the atmosphere in the Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon became heated when Foo insisted that the billions of ringgit that flowed into Najib’s account were ill-gotten gains from the sovereign fund.

Shafee then grilled Foo on whether they ever interviewed bank officers from Falcon Bank (where Tanore Finance Corp’s account was located), to which the IO said they did not.

Foo said it was not necessary to interview any Falcon bank officers because not only the Singapore-based bank had previously closed, but that his Fifo analysis among other money-tracing techniques were sufficient to show that ill-gotten money flowed into Najib's account.

Tanore Finance was part of the entities that were allegedly involved in a convoluted international monetary trail that diverted billions of ringgit from 1MDB and into Najib’s Malaysian bank account.

As trial judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah presided over the trial, Shafee claimed that illegal money could not have gotten into Najib’s account as the so-called illegal funds were actually overdraft funds from Tanore.

Despite Foo’s insistence that the monies were illegal, Shafee contended that illegal funds only flowed into Tanore’s account after a legal “overdraft” amount of US$620 million had flowed into Najib’s account.

The trial before Sequerah resumes tomorrow.

Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.27 billion from 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc).

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP is alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Bhd’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, the accused is purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

Prosecution is conducted by deputy public prosecutor Kamal Baharin Omar.

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