Kantoi! Investigative reporters say Najib’s claim that money was Saudi donation ‘misleading’: Money was from 1MDB

Former prime minister and current Pekan MP out on bail pending trial Najib Razak has been busy since leaving office: If he’s not undergoing questioning from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, he’s going head to head with our current Minister of Finance over the taxation of pau and limau ice by uploading photos of his hawker stall receipts.

Turns out, the added six percent on his drinks and snacks isn’t the only paper trail he’s following. He’s also very keen to point out that a certain Saudi royal donated several million to his campaign in 2011, and has been uploading letters and copies of wire transfer transactions he hopes will clear things up with the public.

However, as the two Wall Street Journal reporters who co-wrote the new 1MDB tome Billion Dollar Whale know, this is nothing new. That donation was widely reported years ago, and does nothing to explain how the other hundreds of millions of dollars (US$681 million, to be exact) ended up in the former PM’s personal accounts in 2013.

In a series of tweets, co-author Bradley Hope, outlines that more than US$1 billion was allegedly received by Najib via 1MDB, highlighting that primary documents and subpoenaed bank statements show a paper trail leading from the sovereign wealth fund to the former leader.

https://twitter.com/bradleyhope/status/1039442296717172736

It gets a lot more awkward after that, with Hope claiming that four of the “Saudi” letters have been widely accepted to be mere covers for the deluge of money that was flowing into Najib’s account, with Department of Justice documents showing that the funds did not come from the signed prince.

And it gets worse, with Hope alleging that a man named “Prince Faisal” was nothing but a front for several shell companies that were used for siphoning 1MDB funds.

Then there’s the paper trail from 1MDB leading to “key stopping point” Blackstone, which then goes to the former PM.

Oh, and let’s not forget the cash that allegedly came to Najib via Jho Low’s man, Eric Tan. Over US$3 billion in bonds from the 1MDB fund went through several shells before landing in his account. About US$620 million was purportedly returned, and the DoJ alleges that Jho then used it to buy a bunch of sh*t. Y’know, like necklaces for Miranda Kerr.

Hope concludes that while letters purport more than US$1 billion in donations, the actual paper just trails back to 1MDB funds. And he’s uploaded an entire Dropbox of docs if you want to have a look for yourself.

Aiyoyo, have we learned nothing, sir? You can’t come at people with receipts over info we already know, and have even MORE receipts that prove otherwise. The internet doesn’t work that way.

Book’s out in two days. We’ll certainly be buying a copy.



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