KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Najib Razak issued 19 cheques totalling more than RM30 million to political groups, mainly linked to Barisan Nasional (BN) and its lynchpin Umno, according to a witness in the former prime minister’s ongoing 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) trial.
The witness’ statement of AmBank Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R. Uma Devi states that the payments were made from Najib’s personal AmBank account ending in “9694” between the period of May 2011 and August 2013.
Uma Devi, who is the 26th prosecution witness in Najib’s 1MDB corruption trial, said Najib directed RM30.3 million into several political organisations.
A recipient going by the name of “Umno” received the bulk of the funds with RM20 million on August 1, 2013, followed by Pahang Umno that got RM1.76 million through two transactions – one on February 4 and another on May 7, 2012.
Party liaison committees which were recipients of a RM1 million payment each were Selangor MCA, Kedah Umno, Pahang Umno, Selangor Puteri Umno, and Selangor Wanita Umno.
Other political groups which were payees in 2011 were the Tun Razak Umno division (RM200,000 on June 28) and Indera Mahkota Umno division (RM200,000 on August 11).
Meanwhile, in 2012, a more significant number of transactions to political groups were made, namely to the “Skuad Sayang Parlimen Pekan” (RM50,000 on January 19), Selangor BN (RM400,000 on February 2), the Hulu Selangor parliamentary service centre (RM300,000 on May 2) and the Pekan Wanita Umno division (RM40,000 on April 30).
On June 21, 2019, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had filed a civil forfeiture suit against 41 entities covering political parties, individuals and companies to recover RM270 million – the biggest forfeiture in the agency’s history – allegedly from 1MDB funds.
Some of the entities named in the forfeiture suit were mentioned in Uma Devi’s testimony, including the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) and Sabah’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Najib allegedly paid SUPP RM500,000 on February 9, 2012 while LDP received RM1 million on April 5 of the same year. Both parties were, at that time, BN components, before jumping ship after the 2018 general election.
LDP had attempted to join the then-ruling coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) in March 2021, only to have its bid rejected by PN chairman and then-prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in October.
On September 2, 2021, the Court of Appeal allowed the Pahang Umno division – which was named by MACC in its forfeiture suit – to keep RM2.5 million that was seized.
The same proceeding saw Umno retaining a total of RM192.9 million while Kedah Umno held on to RM1.05 million and Wanita MCA kept a hold of RM300,000.
Uma Devi took the stand in court yesterday to testify that Najib received RM90 million in two tranches between October and November of 2012, to his Ambank personal account ending in “9694”.
It remains to be seen how much Najib gave to political groups in total.
Last Wednesday, it was reported that Selangor Umno and the state’s Wanita Umno movement were among the major recipients of funds from Najib’s private account, having received RM2 million and RM1.9 million respectively.
This is according to AmBank senior manager Badrul Hisham Mohamad, who told the high court then that other Umno branches had also received cheques issued by Najib, such as the Selangor Wanita Umno movement, which received RM800,000 in September 2011 and another RM1.1 million in March 2012.
The hearing continues before judge Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah. – The Vibes, September 27, 2022
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