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MALAYSIA-POLITICS-CORRUPTION-NAJIB LEAD
Former Malaysian PM Najib arrested over huge graft probe
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak was arrested by anti-corruption investigators Tuesday, officials
said, the latest dramatic development in a widening graft probe that has
engulfed the ex-leader.
Najib will be charged Wednesday, a taskforce set up to investigate
corruption involving Malaysian state fund 1MDB said in a statement adding the
arrest “was made at his home”.
The arrest is the latest in a series of stunning moves by investigators
which suggest the legal noose is tightening around Najib, his family and many
of his close political and business allies.
Allegations of massive corruption were a major factor behind the shock
election loss in May of Najib’s long-ruling coalition to a reformist alliance
headed by his former mentor Mahathir Mohamad.
Najib and his cronies were accused of plundering billions of dollars from
the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund to buy everything from US real estate to
artworks.
Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing.
Since the election loss Najib has been banned from leaving the country and
has found himself at the centre of a widening graft probe.
Shortly after his ouster, a vast trove of valuables seized in raids on
properties linked Najib and his family, including cash, jewellery and luxury
handbags, are worth up to $273 million.
He and his luxury-loving wife Rosmah Mansor were questioned by
investigators.
A special government task force investigating the 1MDB corruption scandal
said it froze 408 bank accounts containing a total 1.1 billion ringgit ($272
million) last week.
Local media reports said some of the accounts belonged to Najib’s political
party, the once-powerful United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). Until
their shock defeat in May, Najib’s party and its coalition allies had run
Malaysia for six decades.
A security source told AFP that agents from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission arrested Najib at his home, a sprawling mansion in a well-heeled
suburb of Kuala Lumpur.
“They came in three to four unmarked cars,” the source, a senior security
official familiar with the arrest, said.
The task force said Najib was arrested in relation to allegations involving
SRC International Sdn Bhd, an energy company that was originally a subsidiary
of 1MDB.
According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, $10.6 million
originating from SRC was transferred to Najib’s personal bank accounts, just
one small part of hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB that allegedly
ended up in Najib’s accounts.
The US Justice Department, which is seeking to recover items allegedly
bought with stolen 1MDB cash in America, estimates that $4.5 billion in total
was looted from the fund.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1628 hrs