3 Aug 2016
Further leaked documents from the Malaysian enquiries into 1MDB have been made available to Sarawak Report, which indicate that the Prime Minister and his wife utilised over RM1.15 million of the fund’s stolen cash on purchasing hormone-based, anti-ageing products from the US!They make clear that whilst the PM is referred to by the Department of Justice investigators at “Malaysian Official 1″, he was dubbed “B1″ by domestic MACC investigators, who had zeroed in on money that passed from the 1MDB subsidiary SRC, via two intermediary companies, into accounts belonging to Najib.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) enquiry into 1MDB focussed on the local diversions of SRC cash, which had been originally raised from a RM4 billion from the public pension fund KWAP.
The MACC established that altogether some RM70 million was siphoned from SRC’s borrowed cash into a series of AmBank accounts belonging to Najib between summer 2014 and early 2015.
However, after sacking the former Attorney General, who was on the point of bringing charges last July, Najib installed his ally, Apandi Ali, who dismissed the charges and ruled the case was closed.
Najib has admitted he did receive the money, but Apandi accepted his excuse that he had not realised that the millions of dollars had come from 1MDB/SRC rather than his “Saudi donor” (money he originally claimed he’d never put to personal use).
The Prime Minister has not been required to pay the money back.
Such looting from SRC may seem small beer compared to the billion dollars that arrived in Najib’s bank accounts from abroad – money now also confirmed by the DOJ as having originated from thefts from 1MDB.
However, SRC was a home-based investigation and it is significant that Najib has just completed his moves to protect himself by removing all top three officers from their posts at the MACC. The organisation had originally challenged Apandi’s judgement that there was nothing illegal involved.
Meanwhile, the public prosecutor Kevin Morais, who had earlier leaked the charge sheet against the Prime Minister to Sarawak Report was kidnapped and found brutally murdered in a drum of solidified cement.
The world’s most expensive beauty product?
Documents now obtained from that MACC investigation show the outcome of enquiries by officials into some of the expenditures made from these accounts.These include a cheque for RM1,154,000 that was made out from account number 2112022011906 to a certain Datuk Sadiq bin Mohammed on February 4th 2015:
Notes attached to the photocopied cheques suggest that investigators asked Datuk Sidiq the purpose of the payment:
“Pembelian 2 set ubat jenis Plantserum External Apllication Food based GH-9 Honey Softgel dan Food GH-9 Honey Soft Gel pada harga USD159,000 setiap satu set utk kegunaan B1 dan isteri”This translates:
“The purchase of 2 sets of medication type External Plant Serum Food Application based softgel GH-9 Honey and Honey Food GH-9 Soft Gel at USD159,000 each set for the use of B1 and wife”
Who are B1 and Wife?
As with the DOJ indictment the rest of the document leaves little doubt as to whom the investigators meant by “B1 and Wife”.Because, the next items of expenditure examined from these accounts include several building works and alterations at addresses which are known to belong to Najib Razak and his wife. These include, for example, RM100,000 for construction work on a police guard room and amenities at their KL residence made payable to an outfit called ABS Trend Master Sdn Bhd on 16th February 2015:
This payment also has a note attached:
“Kerja-kerja pembinaan satu unit pondok polis (dengan bilik mandi dan cabinet), satu tempat pembuangan sampah konkirt dan satu bilik sebaguna (dengan bilik mandi dan cabinet) di rumah B1 No 11 Jalan Langgak Duta Taman Duta KL”Which translates:
“Construction work of the police post unit (with bathroom and cabinet), concrete landfills and a multi-purpose room (with bathroom and cabinet) in B1 house No 11 Jalan Taman Duta Duta Langgak KL”It is of little surprise that the expenditures from these accounts, were for the benefit of the “first couple”, given that Najib has admitted that this and the other accounts were in his name.
His excuse is merely that he did not know where the money had come from, which his hand-picked AG ruled acceptable (in a decision that has been challenged not only by the MACC but by the Bar Council for being an unconstitutional abuse of his powers and authority).
What will leave Malaysians surely gasping is how two doses of any serum and oral product could cost such a huge amount of money?
Sarawak Report has not succeeded in tracking on the open market any product that begins to cost as much USD159,000 each – yet at contemporary exchange rates the price tag described appears to match the RM1,154,000 on the cheque.
The most likely explanation is that the ‘GH-9′ description refers to the ‘Growth Factor 9′ hormone, currently touted as being all the rage as an anti-ageing product for the ‘super-rich’. The highly controversial drug is banned for athletes.
A series of advertisements describe the product as being the favourite anti-ageing secret of the rich and famous…. although the price tag is nowhere near what B1 and wife appear to have been paying:
So, perhaps B1 or his wife can enlighten Malaysians what exactly this public money was indeed spent on, because the MACC reporting notes make clear the investigators themselves found it hard to determine what genuine investments SRC have actually been making with the RM4 billion borrowed from KWAP.
Ironically, it can be seen that the MACC investigation notes themselves quote research from Sarawak Report, as they attempt to find out what on earth the company has been up to in the absence of publicly available information.
This was the very ‘sin’ that UMNO spokesman Rahman Dahlan accused the DOJ of just last week!
On a parting note – if this million ringgit mystery product was indeed promoted as an anti-ageing beauty treatment for Malaysia’s ‘First Couple’, might Malaysians not be eligible for a substantial refund on grounds of poor performance and a breech of trade descriptions?
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