1MDB: Late Saudi king known for his philanthropy - Najib

1MDB TRIAL | The late Saudi ruler King Abdullah was known for his philanthropy, reminisced former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The former finance minister said this was why he did not doubt the genuineness of the donation he received from the Saudi ruler via Tanore Corporation.

“I relied on the systems and safeguards in place in our central bank and AmIslamic Bank. At no point was I alerted about the possible suspicious nature of the remittances into my accounts.

“In any event, I am aware that the late King Abdullah was known for his philanthropy, donations, and gift-giving. Even the common Arab men are known for their charitable nature, what more the king himself,” Najib testified during today’s RM2.27 billion 1MDB abuse of power and money laundering trial against him.

He previously believed that billions of ringgit flowed into his account was a donation from Saudi royalty and that he had returned nearly all of it to its sender.

"I remember that King Juan Carlos of Spain had also received US$100 million from the late King Abdullah in 2008, which was also transferred through the Saudi Arabian Finance Ministry.

"So, it was not out of character for King Abdullah to part with that kind of money.

"If I remember correctly, the Swiss authorities had probed into the remittances and concluded in 2012 that there was insufficient evidence to show that the remittances were of a corrupt nature," Najib testified before the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

Nothing out of the ordinary

The former premier explained that he was informed through a Saudi letter that the donation would be remitted through Tanore Finance Corporation, a Saudi-linked entity.

"More importantly, it would be naïve to hold the view that the Arab conglomerates would confine their investments only in the Middle East.

"In fact, the Gulf countries have been heavily investing in the United Kingdom in the hundreds of millions of dollars, ranging from properties, media companies, and even banking institutions.

"It would not be out of the ordinary for funds controlled by King Abdullah to be spread out in banks and entities the world over, including the British Virgin Islands which are a part of the British Overseas Territory," Najib said.

When defence counsel Wan Azwan Aiman Wan Fakhruddin asked whether Najib was then aware that Tanore was a BVI-registered entity, the former premier said not at the material time.

"But again, this is where the system in place at the Bank Negara was meant to alert me of any suspicious facts, which they either did not or could not detect," Najib lamented.

On Oct 30, the criminal court ordered Najib to enter his defence over four abuse of power and 21 money laundering charges involving RM2.27 billion of funds from 1MDB.

Najib is serving a six-year jail sentence over a separate abuse of power case involving RM42 million of funds from SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

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