KUALA LUMPUR: INVESTIGATORS probing Datuk Seri Najib Razak for money laundering and misappropriation of property have recommended for the former prime minister to be charged.
This recommendation was made in the investigation paper they submitted to the Attorney-General’s (A-G) Chambers several days ago.
Highly-placed sources told the New Sunday Times the recommendation was made as investigators from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) “have enough evidence” to “ensure the cases stick”.
The sources said the case they had drawn up against Najib was “as strong” as it was when the commission’s investigators concluded and submitted the IP on the case to the chambers in 2015.
“When MACC made the recommendation to charge back then, the then attorney-general (Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali) said there was no case. That decision, you have to ask him,” the source told NST.
The sources said the recommendation to charge in MACC’s IP did not include Najib’s wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
“It is up to the A-G now to decide whether to accept the recommendations to charge, tweak the charges or return the papers for further investigations.”
The money laundering charge is linked to the allegations that RM42 million from the Retirement Fund Inc, or Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP), had made its way into Najib’s personal bank accounts.
Najib had consistently denied knowledge of any wrongdoing in this allegation.
Those convicted of money laundering could face a maximum sentence of 15 years’ jail and a fine of no less than five times the value of the laundered proceeds.
The new A-G, Tommy Thomas, had on Tuesday said his office had received investigation papers on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) from MACC and was studying possible criminal and civil action.
Meanwhile, another set of sources said the A-G’s Chambers would have a series of meetings from tomorrow to go through MACC’s findings, as well as look into legal ways to record the statements of several key witnesses, who had yet to come forward to help in the investigations.
NST, quoting sources earlier this week, said MACC was hoping to get hold of SRC International director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil Nik Othman Arif Kamil and that it could make do without fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low.
The commission had already recorded Nik Faisal’s statement in Indonesia in 2015, followed by SRC director Datuk Suboh Md Yassin, also in Indonesia.
NST was made to understand that Suboh, who is under a witness protection programme, could be the star witness in the case.
Last week, MACC also released pictures and details of four witnesses linked to 1MDB investigations, including Tan Kim Loong, whose last known address was Taman Pusat Kepong, Kuala Lumpur, and his MyKad number is 780213-14-6207.
Malaysia has also signed mutual legal assistance (MLA) requests with Switzerland, the United States, France and the United Arab Emirates.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in an interview with the New York Times on Thursday, revealed that the government had already accumulated enough evidence to charge Najib and Rosmah.
He said investigations into the previous administration had uncovered shocking findings.