It seems the police lost RM400 million worth of valuables
And the fact that the RM1.35 billion allegedly stolen from 1MDB cannot be returned to 1MDB but has to be kept in a special account, and it took them a year to file a seizure suit on the RM1.1 billion worth of valuables they seized from the Pavilion Residences, and then reduced it to only RM680 million, shows the mess the Pakatan Harapan government is in.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
“Putrajaya files forfeiture suit against Najib, Rosmah over items bought with stolen 1MDB funds,” said The Edge Markets today (READ HERE). This is one day after Malaysia Today wrote “One year on, what happened to the seized valuables from The Pavilion raid?” (READ HERE).
The Edge Markets report says the forfeiture suit is for RM680 million worth of cash, jewellery, handbags, watches and sunglasses seized from the Pavilion Residences. But then the police said they confiscated between RM1 billion to RM1.1 billion worth of cash and valuables. So, what happened to another RM400 million or so worth of items?
According to those close to the investigation, the seized items were not stored properly and were simply dumped in the store and that a number of valuables have gone missing. Next week, the police are supposed to return the seized items but they cannot do so because of the missing valuables worth about RM400 million.
Amar Singh needs to explain the missing RM400 million worth of valuables
That is why today they filed a forfeiture suit (so that they need not return the RM1.1 billion worth of valuables next week — which now has been reduced to less than RM700 million). If they return the items next week the world will know that RM400 million worth of valuables have gone missing.
The other problem is, while the news reports say the valuables were bought with money stolen from 1MDB, this cannot be proven. That is why the Attorney-General has asked the court to delay the 1MDB trial until August.
The US$200 million the United States Department of Justice returned to Malaysia has not been returned to 1MDB even though they alleged the money was stolen from 1MDB. Instead, the money is being kept in a special account. The same for the US$126 million from the sale of the luxury yacht, Equanimity.
That comes to more than RM1.35 billion. Why keep this RM1.35 billion in a special account? Since the money was allegedly stolen from 1MDB why not return the money to 1MDB? Surely 1MDB can use that RM1.35 billion to reduce its bank borrowings.
Tommy Thomas cannot proceed with the 1MDB trial and fears he will not be able to convict Najib
The problem is they have not proven that the money was stolen from 1MDB. In fact, not only have they not yet proven it, but they cannot prove that the money came from 1MDB. That is why the AG has asked the court to delay the 1MDB trial until August. They are having problems trying to prove that Najib Tun Razak stole 1MDB’s money.
Now the bank confirms that the RM2.6 billion that they say Najib stole from 1MDB came from the Saudi Royal Family after all. The bank also confirms that there were some suspicious transactions and some of the signatures may even be forged but they did not want to inform Najib about it (which means Najib was not aware of what was going on).
If the bank was suspicious and if some transactions appeared irregular or fakes, and if the bank hid this from Najib because they did not want Najib to know about it, how can that make Najib guilty of stealing? So that means Najib was the victim, not the perpetrator.
Mahathir admitted they may not be able to convict Najib after all
This is what worries the AG. And Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted this when he said it may not be that easy to convict Najib.
And the fact that the RM1.35 billion allegedly stolen from 1MDB cannot be returned to 1MDB but has to be kept in a special account, and it took them a year to file a seizure suit on the RM1.1 billion worth of valuables they seized from the Pavilion Residences, and then reduced it to only RM680 million, shows the mess the Pakatan Harapan government is in.
