Najib: RM114m in condo raid not mine but Umno’s; updated assets list includes Johor Sultan’s car gift

KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak has denied owning the RM114 million which police had in May 2018 seized from a condominium before it was returned under a court ruling, saying that the money actually belongs to his political party Umno.

In a court document filed in response to 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) previous successful attempt to freeze his assets and to have him declare his assets, Najib said the RM114 million sum that was reported to be returned to him “does not form part of my assets”.

He said this was because the RM114 million was at all times “held by me on trust on behalf of Umno following the 14th general elections that had just concluded days before the raid in my apartment”.

“As the then president of Umno, I was entrusted with said funds for purposes of the elections, however, said money does not belong to me,” the former prime minister said in the affidavit in reply filed in court on June 28, denying that he had failed to disclose this RM114 million as being part of his assets.

Najib claimed that the reason why the RM114 million was initially returned to him was that the money was part of the government’s forfeiture proceedings in court, where it is the public prosecutor who initiates the application to forfeit the property.

When the High Court dismissed the public prosecutor’s application to have the RM114 million forfeited, Najib said the court did not make any order on where the RM114 million was to be returned to.

In such a situation where the court did not say where the RM114 million is to be returned to, “the authorities were simply required to return the money to where it was found (i.e. my condominium),” Najib said.

Najib said he had also lodged a police report on June 4, 2018 shortly after the raid which places on record that the RM114 million belongs to Umno, adding that he believes that current Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi — now the deputy prime minister — had previously confirmed in a court affidavit that the RM114 million was Umno’s property and not Najib’s.

Najib said most of the items seized then belongs to his wife and children, except for a few items that were presents given to him.

“Among the items that were seized from my residence, a majority of the items belong to my wife and children save for several accessories that were gifted to me over the years,” he said, adding that he would provide further details through his lawyers if required.

Among other things, Najib denied that he had withheld the list of his assets and denied that he had made only a partial disclosure of his assets, explaining that the previous assets list which he had submitted did not include some of his assets due to the non-availability of information to his accountant then to enable the list to be prepared before the deadline.

Najib said his lawyer had previously informed 1MDB’s lawyer that there were some outstanding asset disclosures that would be formalised in a further affidavit, and argued that this shows “no attempt to hide my assets but rather a mere delay” towards the full disclosure.

In his affidavit, Najib produced an updated asset disclosure list which includes his only two bank accounts currently, namely an Affin Bank account and deposits in his Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) account.

“My accountant has also inserted an additional vehicle a Range Rover bearing number plate JSM 1 that was gifted to me by His Royal Highness the Sultan of Johor that was inadvertently left out of my initial disclosure,” he said.

Najib said the same asset disclosures were given to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Inland Revenue Board during their investigations on him and that they have not disputed his asset disclosures' authenticity, adding that his previous bank accounts with AmBank have been closed for more than seven years and are not part of his current list of assets.

The High Court on February 8, 2022 granted 1MDB and its four subsidiaries' application to freeze Najib's assets as part of the companies' bid to claim US$681 million from him and other individuals, also ordering Najib to disclose his assets — whether within or outside Malaysia, held under his own name or not and whether solely or jointly owned with others in the lawsuit or whether held by his nominees for him — up to the value of US$681 million within 14 days of the court order being served on him.

Najib then filed an affidavit on March 14, 2022 listing his assets to comply with the court's order.

In this latest affidavit filed just days ago on June 28, Najib included the updated list of his assets as of June 30, 2022 which were stated to have a total estimated value of RM4,490,774 or RM4.49 million.

The RM4.49 million list states Najib's assets as including seven properties in the form of land and building (six in Pahang, one in Semenyih, Selangor) at a total estimated value of RM460,987, and nine vehicles (a Honda EX5 motorcycle and a Mercedes Benz with a total estimated value of RM252,000; with the rest stated as "obtained as gift" instead of having an estimated value stated — two Mercedes Benz S-Class and two Mercedes Benz C-Class sedans, one Bentley Continental Flying Spur luxury saloon, a Range Rover Autobiography sports utility vehicle, and a Kawasaki ZG motorcycle).

The remaining part of the list states Najib as having over RM1.24 million in his Affin Bank account as of June 30, 2022 and over RM2.52 million deposits in his ASB account as of June 13, 2022.

In the latest affidavit, Najib insisted he does not own assets amounting to US$681 million and asserted that he has fully disclosed his assets.

Najib's latest affidavit was filed in response to 1MDB chairman Datuk Johan Mahmood's May 25, 2023 affidavit, where the latter reportedly alleged that Najib had failed to make full disclosure of his assets such as the Affin Bank account or those in the past few years.

According to the financial publication The Edge, 1MDB and its subsidiaries' lawsuit against Najib came up for case management today before High Court judge Atan Mustaffa Yussof Ahmad, who scheduled July 14 to hear Najib's application to set aside the court order to freeze his assets.