Bank account was funnelled to nine parties

News portal lists which BN parties got a piece of Najib's S$158.44 mil  

Malay Mail

Based on information it compiled, news portal Malaysiakini says at least S$158.44 million from former prime minister Najib Razak's bank account was funnelled to nine parties of the then 13-member Barisan Nasional (BN), one BN-friendly party, and the coalition itself.

Published18 JULY, 2018

UPDATED 18 JULY, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR — About RM470 million (S$158.44 million) made its way from one of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak's bank accounts to Barisan Nasional (BN) parties between April 2012 and August 2013, a news portal asserted on Wednesday (July 18)

Based on information it compiled, news portal Malaysiakini said a minimum of RM470 million was funnelled to nine parties of the then 13-member BN, one BN-friendly party, and the coalition itself.

The party that benefited the most is BN's mainstay party United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which purportedly took RM417.414 million or 88 per cent of the funds.

Umno's allies Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) allegedly received the second and third largest sum from this account at RM20.55 million (0.44 per cent) and RM16.5 million (0.35 per cent) respectively.

BN is now reduced to these three political parties following its defeat at the May 9 general election, but its former partners in Sabah and Sarawak were alleged to have benefited previously from the funds from Mr Najib's bank account.

According to Malaysiakini's compilation, the Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP) allegedly received RM3.5 million and Sabah's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also purportedly received RM3.5 million.

Sabah's Upko and United Sabah People's Party (PBRS) allegedly received RM2 million and RM1 million respectively, while PPP and Gerakan were said to have received RM700,000 and RM300,000 respectively.

The Indian Progressive Front (IPF) which previously sought to join BN, allegedly received RM1 million, Malaysiakini's compiled information showed.

A separate sum of RM3.55 million was said to have been received by BN from this account under Najib, the information on a microsite by Malaysiakini showed.

The information showed that the largest transactions were to Umno at the national level on April 11, 2013 (RM100 million) and April 22, 2013 (RM50 million), just shortly before the 13th general election (GE13) on May 5, 2013.

Other notable infusions to party funds near GE13 were shown to be to Pahang Umno via two tranches of RM15 million each dated April 18 and April 26, Perak Umno and Johor Umno's RM25 million each on April 29 and April 30 respectively, as well as RM20 million to Selangor Umno on April 24, the information showed.

The information on other transactions near GE13 showed MIC at the national level receiving RM10 million and RM5 million on April 18 and April 26, while Selangor MCA allegedly received RM5 million each on April 8 and April 30, Penang Umno RM5 million on April 19, Kedah Umno and Kelantan Umno RM5 million each on April 8 and April 10 respectively.

When broken down into states, Malaysiakini reported that most of the funds or RM275.5 million were channelled to political entities at the federal level, with the top recipients being Selangor (RM60.25 million), Pahang (RM37.73 million), Johor (RM27.2 million), Perak (RM25.2 million) and Kedah (RM15.8 million).

According to Malaysiakini, the compiled information is only on one of at least four Najib accounts where funds linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) or 1MDB former subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd were allegedly sent.

Najib is under investigation in relation to 1MDB funds, but denies wrongdoing.

He was recently charged with criminal breach of trust and abusing his position for personal gratification over RM42 million of SRC International funds.

GE13, which had a 15-day campaign period from April 20, saw BN retaining federal power. The coalition failed to recapture Penang and Selangor, while Kelantan remained under Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS). MALAY MAIL