Najib's accounts at AmBank not frozen as already closed: Task force

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya on July 8, 2015. PHOTO: AFP

PETALING JAYA - The personal accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, allegedly linked to the 1MDB money trail, were not frozen as they were already closed on Aug 30, 2013 and March 9 this year, a special task probing the allegations said Thursday.

However, the special task force, set up to probe the alleged transfer of funds, said that all relevant documents related to the two AmBank Islamic accounts have been received, The Star reported.

"The Attorney-General emphasised that all investigation documents received by the Attorney-General are provided by the special task force. Therefore, there is no issue of the Attorney-General using documents published in the Wall Street Journal or elsewhere," said the task force in a statement on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a task force team raided the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) office at Menara IMC in Kuala Lumpur. The search of the premises was completed at 6.45pm.

The statement added that Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was informed that the team had obtained materials required for its investigation including the minutes of meetings of 1MDB's board of directors, the minute book, bank statements and other bank details, reconciliation statements, ledgers, agreements of business and investment dealings, and files on 1MDB's corporate social responsibility activities. The team also seized several notebook computers.

A multi-agency special task force has been investigating the alleged 1MDB money trail.

It has frozen six bank accounts and is investigating 17 others allegedly involved in the transfer of 1MDB funds.

The task force has also seized documents during raids on 1MDB-linked companies, namely SRC International Sdn Bhd, Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, which were allegedly used to channel funds into what WSJ claims were the personal accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

On July 3, WSJ published a report alleging that US$700mil (S$946 million) had been transferred into Najib's personal accounts.

Meanwhile, the Sarawak Report blog, which along with WSJ had reported on the alleged huge money transfers, claimed on Thursday that purported documents from the 1MDB probe showed that RM2 million was deposited into the account of Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

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