KUALA LUMPUR: The Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Amar Singh has challenged blogger, Raja Petra Kamarudin, to be brave and come forward to lodge a police report in Malaysia if he has credible information that police had stolen RM43.3million believed to belong to Umno.
“I will not pay heed to such a writer. RPK claims to be an investigative journalist, but looks very far from that.
“This is a frivolous and vexatious accusation against the police and I will not stay quiet against such an accusation.
“This is a baseless accusation. If he has such information on him, please lodge a police report in Malaysia, and don’t hide behind the cyber curtain.
“So, I am urging him to be brave. Action will be taken against him if the report is proven false,” he told a press conference at CCID headquarters, Menara KPJ, here today.
Amar said Raja Petra had made his report based on the press conference he made on May 25, days after police raided six premises linked to former prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“The basis of his claim is that on May 25, I said RM114 million was seized and later on June 28 said RM116 million was seized. He is using this discrepancy to claim that we are not sure of the figures.
“Among the premises we raided were three in Pavillion Residences, his office Seri Perdana, and his Langgak Duta residence.
“The RM114 million in 26 currencies was found in only one of the premises in Pavillion Residence. After we have finished counting everything from the seizures, I said in another press conference on June 28 that the total amount was RM116million,” he explained.
He pointed out that only after police announced the amount that a claimant made a police report, saying the actual amount was RM160 million.
“Upon our press conference on May 25, and only after this, the claimant come and said the money belongs to him.
“No claim prior to this, even during the search. Only one week after that did an individual lodge the report.
However, that individual could not substantiate how they got the money. You must have some documents to show that this amount of money was taken out.
“I am 101 per cent sure that what was found was what was recovered,” he said.
When asked later, he confirmed that the person who had lodged the police report was Najib.
Umno had filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court demanding that the RM116.7 million allegedly belonging to the party should be returned to it.
Based on the demand statement, Umno sought a declaration that the raid and seizure carried out on May 17, 2018 at the premises concerned were wrongful in terms of the law and Umno sought an order for the return of the money to the party.
They also sought an order for the return of money amounting to RM43.3 million which was the difference in amount between RM160 million and RM116.7 million to Umno.
He said it was “practically impossible” for police to take away that huge amount of money from Pavillion Residences.
“There were 72 bags recovered from that unit. Of the amount, 35 contained cash. That means 35 big bags contained RM114 million.
“To accommodate, for RM43 million, you need about 10 bags. How are we going to move the bags with 100 closed-circuit televisions, policemen with video recording, and over 50 reporters waiting outside, and there is only one entrance to the premises. No way anything can be taken out,” he stressed.