KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 30): Someone in Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) "obviously knows" what happened to the RM2 billion paid by the central bank to purchase a parcel of land from the Ministry of Finance (MoF), said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

Dr Mahathir said that in response to news of the suspension of four BNM officials reported today.

"I only know that the land was sold to Bank Negara. What happens after that, I don't know. Where the money goes, I don't know.

"But obviously somebody in Bank Negara knows about it. [The authorities] are investigating, that's all," said Dr Mahathir at a press conference on national policy on Industry 4.0 here.

It has been reported today that four BNM officials have been told to go on leave pending investigations into BNM's purchase of land contiguous to the central bank's Sasana Kijang complex known as Lot 41 for a reported RM2.066 billion.

When the land was purchased in January, BNM announced that it will be used for the relocation of the Global Islamic Finance University and the International Shari'ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance.

BNM in a statement dated May 31 said the deal was agreed upon by both parties based on market price and supported by an independent private sector property valuation firm Suleiman & Co.

It has been noted that it was rare for a government agency like BNM to buy land from the Federal Government and the transaction was done at market price. At RM2 billion, the price of the 2.43 million sq ft parcel works out to RM823 per sq ft.

That same month, finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the Finance Ministry used the proceeds under the purview of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to pay part of 1MDB debt owed to Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC).

On Oct 25, Najib and former treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Irwan Sergiar Abdullah were jointly slapped with six charges for redirecting RM6.636 billion worth of government funds, originally slated for other purposes, to pay off 1MDB debts to IPIC.

Under the charge sheet, the sixth charge entailed Najib and Irwan, under their capacity as public servants namely finance minister and treasury sec-gen respectively, committing criminal breach of trust on RM2 billion worth of government funds.