KUALA LUMPUR: Several documents revealed by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to confirm that the money he received was indeed a donation from the Saudi royal family were allegedly not signed by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Abdulaziz Al-Saud himself.
The Edge Weekly, in its report, said that Mohammad Abdullah Al Koman, who claimed to be the representative of the Saudi prince, had told the investigators that he was the person who prepared the letters and signed all of them on behalf of the prince.
“In other words, Mohammad Abdullah told Malaysian investigators that they had to take his word for it and it came from Saudi royalty,” read the report.
It was also reported that according to sources, after the meeting with Mohammad Abdullah, investigators concluded that “it was not safe to confirm that the money (transferred) from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners and Tanore Finance were contributions from Saudi Arabia because it was still unclear and there was a lack of supporting documents.
“They said all that they had were just verbal assurances given by Mohammad Abdullah and that there was no other confirmation of the authenticity of the letters and the prince himself.”
According to the report, Mohammad Abdullah had told investigators that together with Eric Tan, they were not able to provide any other information and documents on the money gifted to Najib because they were governed by Saudi laws “involving the interests of the Saudi royal family.”
In the report, it was also revealed that there were three similarly worded letters, purportedly from the prince, that were presented to AmBank between 2011 and 2013 by Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil, who was managing Najib’s account.
In the first letter dated Feb 1, 2011, USD100 million was given to the former prime minister for his contribution to Islam and was to be used as he wished.
Of the total, USD80 million appeared to have come from Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency while the remaining USD20 million from Prince Faisal bin Turki, originated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
According to the report, a second letter dated Nov 1 of the same year, USD375 million would be gifted to Najib and the money would come from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners.
Of the total, USD 170 million appeared to have come from Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners and another USD100 million from Prince Faisal bin Turki.
Mohammad Abdullah allegedly told investigators that Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners was owned by the family of the Saudi king at the time and he had appointed Eric Tan as a “trusted associate” to manage their assets.
In the third later dated Mar 1, 2013, USD800 million would be transferred from Tanore Finance to Najib.
Again, Mohammad Abdullah told the investigators that Tanore Finance belonged to the Saudi royal family and Tan was also managing the assets for them.
Last Monday, Najib revealed several documents related to funds channeled to him via his Facebook account.
He shared three documents from King Abdullah, one of which bore the words ‘Recognition of Contribution to the Islamic World’, dated Feb 1, 2011.
Two other documents were financial transaction statements dated Feb 24, 2011 and on Nov 25 the same year.
Najib said he was sharing the documents to clear his name of accusations and slander.
He said together with his lawyer, they spent a long time to obtain the bank statements and documents, just for the 2011 donations alone.