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发帖数: 4796 | 1 Seized Cash and Luxury Goods Linked to Malaysia's Former Prime Minister
Are Valued at $273 Million
Associated Press
(KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia) — The total value of cash, jewelry and hundreds of
watches and handbags seized from properties linked to former Malaysian
Prime Minister Najib Razak in a money-laundering investigation amounted to
at least $273 million, police said Wednesday, calling the haul “the biggest
in Malaysian history.”
The items comprised 12,000 pieces of jewelry, 567 handbags, 423 watches and
234 sunglasses, said commercial crime investigations chief Amar Singh. The
jewelry includes 2,200 rings, 1,400 necklaces, 2,100 bracelets, 2,800 pair
of earrings, 1,600 brooches and 14 tiaras, he said.
“Definitely we are shocked. This is the biggest seizure in Malaysia’s
history,” he told a news conference.
Allegations of corruption at the defunct 1MDB state investment fund that
Najib set up led to his shocking defeat and the end of the 60-year unbroken
rule of his coalition in May 9 elections. Najib and his wife have been
barred from leaving the country and have both been grilled by anti-graft
officials. They have denied any wrongdoing.
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Police have raided 12 locations, including Najib’s family home and
apartments at a high-end Kuala Lumpur condominium, as part of the probe into
a criminal breach of trust involving the 1MDB fund.
Singh said among the most expensive valuables were a 6.4 million ringgit ($1
.6 million) diamond necklace and a 3.5 million ringgit ($869,000) Rolex
Daytona watch. Out of the 567 handbags, he said 272 were the exclusive
Hermes Birkins bags with a market value of at least 51 .3 million ringgit ($
12.7 million).
Police will soon call Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor as well as people who
allegedly gave them some of the items as gifts for questioning, he added.
Rosmah was reviled by many Malaysians as an avaricious first lady who loves
Birkin bags and leads an opulent lifestyle, but television footage of the
huge police haul has Malaysia gasping with shock. It is possibly the most
sensational image of elite corruption in Asia in the three decades since
former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos and her infamous collection of
designer shoes and jewelry.
Najib set up the 1MDB fund when he took power in 2009 but it accumulated
billions in debts. U.S. investigators say Najib’s associates stole and
laundered $4.5 billion from the fund from 2009 to 2014, some of which landed
in Najib’s bank account. They say $27.3 million was used to buy a rare
diamond necklace for Rosmah.
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New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad reopened investigations into 1MDB that
were suppressed under Najib’s rule. Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22
years until 2003, was spurred out of retirement by the 1MDB scandal. He has
vowed there will be no deal for Najib, saying he will face the consequences
if found guilty of wrongdoing.
The government has said Najib’s administration had conducted an “exercise
of deception” over 1MDB and misrepresented the country’s financial
situation to Parliament. The country’s new anti-graft chief warned of
criminal charges against Najib soon.
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