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Malaysia PM Najib Razak got nearly $1 billion 'personal donation' from Saudis
New York Times - January 27, 2016
The decision, which was greeted with outrage and cynicism by the opposition, appears to prolong the embattled premiership of Mr Najib, who has struggled to explain why nearly $US700 million ($1 billion) had been transferred to him.
Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi told reporters at a hastily convened news conference on Tuesday in the country's administrative capital, Putrajaya, that he had ordered the anti-corruption commission to close the investigation into the money Mr Najib received.
Mr Apandi, who was appointed by the Prime Minister last year after the previous attorney-general abruptly left office, said the largest amount, $US681 million, "was a personal donation" from the Saudi royal family.
"I am satisfied that there was no evidence to show that the donation was a form of gratification given corruptly," Mr Apandi said in a statement released by the Attorney-General's Office.
The statement also said that part of the money – $US620 million – was returned to the Saudi royal family in 2013 "because the sum was not utilised".
In a statement of his own on Tuesday, Mr Najib said that he welcomed the Attorney-General's findings and that the matter "has been comprehensively put to rest".
The Attorney-General's remarks were the most explicit on the transfers to date. But no reason was provided as to why the Saudi royal family would send Mr Najib such a large sum of money. Nor did the Attorney-General say how much was spent of the $US61 million that Mr Najib did not send back.
One of the more outspoken members of the opposition, Rafizi Ramli, sarcastically called Mr Najib "the luckiest person" to have received so much money and "most generous" for having returned so much of it.
"This can only happen in fairytales," Mr Rafizi was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini, a news website. He called the Prime Minister a clown and said the explanation given on Tuesday by the Attorney-General made the situation "more ridiculous".
In addition to the assertion that Mr Najib had received money from the Saudis, the Attorney-General's statement suggested that the Prime Minister was unaware that millions of dollars had been transferred into his personal accounts from a company owned by the Finance Ministry known as SRC.
Documents from the investigation show that those transfers amounted to about $US10 million. The Attorney-General's Office said there was "no evidence" that Mr Najib "had any knowledge" that this money had been transferred into his accounts.
Mr Najib "was of the belief" that any of the money he spent had come from the Saudi royal family, the statement said.
The case of SRC is potentially explosive because it involves the savings of Malaysian government employees: SRC received a loan of more than $US930 million from the government fund that manages the retirement savings of civil servants, a decision approved by Mr Najib's cabinet.
Mr Najib's government has moved aggressively to shut down leaks that led to the investigation. Last year, the police raided the offices of the anti-corruption commission, the licence of a crusading news organisation was suspended, and Mr Najib purged his deputy prime minister, who had been pressing for further investigations.
At the centre of Mr Najib's troubles is a sovereign wealth fund called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, which has the Prime Minister as its chairman.
The opposition is leading calls for further investigations into the fund's billions of dollars in debts, its struggles to repay them, and opaque transactions involving offshore tax havens.
The lavish spending of Mr Najib's wife and his stepson's real estate holdings in the United States have also come under scrutiny.
In September, people with knowledge of the investigation said a US federal grand jury was examining allegations of corruption involving Mr Najib and people close to him,
The inquiry, being run by a unit of the Justice Department that investigates international corruption, was said to be focused on properties in the United States bought in recent years by shell companies belonging to his stepson, as well as other real estate connected to a close family friend.
Mr Najib has prevailed despite large street protests in August against him and a spirited campaign to unseat him by Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister and senior member of Mr Najib's party.
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