US$681mil in Najib’s account were ‘proceeds of illegal activities’, court told

US$681mil in Najib’s account were ‘proceeds of illegal activities’, court told

Investigating officer Foo Wei Min said the funds originated from 1MDB's US$3 billion bond.

Najib Razak is on trial for abuse of power and money laundering involving 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between 2011 and 2014. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR:
An investigating officer from the police force told Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial that he classified a sum of US$681 million that entered the former prime minister’s accounts in 2013 as “proceeds from illegal activities”.

Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department’s Foo Wei Min told the High Court that, based on investigations, the money which originated from a US$3 billion bond raised by 1MDB, entered Najib’s AmBank account between March 22 and April 10, 2013.

Foo added that prior to the remittance, Najib’s account had an outstanding balance of RM879.8 million, which the witness said had originated from a “legitimate source”.

The witness told the court that he used the “first in, first out” method to differentiate funds from “illegal activities” from those obtained from the “legitimate source”.

Najib is standing trial on 25 charges of abuse of power and money laundering over alleged 1MDB funds amounting to RM2.28 billion deposited into his AmBank accounts between February 2011 and December 2014.

Earlier today, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib indicated that the prosecution also intends to call another investigating officer, Nur Aida Arifin, to testify at the trial.

However, he said the defence team had yet to complete its cross-examination of former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and its analyst Adam Ariff Roslan.

He said Aida would only give her evidence after Adam and Zeti completed their testimony.

The hearing continues on Oct 24 before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

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