Probe funding for Najib’s daughter’s wedding to disprove graft claims, IRB told

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — The Inland Revenue Board (IRB) can investigate how Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s daughter’s lavish wedding receptions were funded in order to clear the prime minister, veteran journalist Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said after a news report claimed that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was channelled to Najib’s personal bank accounts.

The former New Straits Times group chief editor also alleged that although Najib may not have taken the money for “personal gain”, the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman and Umno president had allegedly taken it for other purposes like funding an election campaign, with the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report claiming that the money was banked into the accounts two months before the 13th general election in 2013.

“To help clear him, the Inland Revenue Board can investigate the sources of funds for his daughter’s lavish wedding receptions recently and find out if he or the wife has assets, like palatial homes, abroad,” Kadir wrote on his blog yesterday.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has criticised the purported extravagance of the March wedding reception of Najib’s daughter, Nooryana Najwa, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) here, citing rumours that the flower decorations alone cost RM3 million.

Najib’s special officer Rizal Mansor, however, reportedly said last May that the wedding reception was paid entirely by the family of the groom, Daniyar Kessibayev.

Kadir also questioned the commissions and alleged bribes generated by businesses linked to the companies implicated in the WSJ report that described a money trail from state-owned 1MDB to Najib’s bank accounts that went through several companies like former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International and Ihsan Perdana, which does corporate social responsibility for 1MDB.

“This is why it is so important for the investigators to interrogate companies and individuals who do business with 1MDB like Genting, Ananda [Krishnan], Jho Low and the Arabs,” he said.

Najib said in a statement Friday in response to the WSJ report that he has “never taken funds for personal gain” and accused Dr Mahathir of being behind the latest allegation by working together with foreign nationals.

“Are we to assume that Western media outlets like Dr Mahathir more than Mohd Najib? Isn’t Mohd Najib more friendly with the West, in particulars the US, than Dr Mahathir?

So why should the Western media be in cahoots with the recalcitrant Dr Mahathir in attacking the pro-West Mohd Najib?” Kadir commented.

The veteran journalist also noted that the reporting rules at WSJ are very stringent.

“In cases like 1MDB, reporters’ copies will be vetted by company lawyers. In most instances the lawyers would insist on seeing supporting documents and the identities of the reporters’ sources of information,” he said.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail confirmed yesterday that a special team comprising the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), the police and Bank Negara have started investigating the alleged flow of funds from 1MDB to Najib’s personal bank accounts.

He also said he has received documents on the alleged fund transfers.