GEORGE TOWN (Sept 27): Police will follow legal procedure on UMNO's claim for the RM116.7 million impounded by the police to be returned to the party.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said the court had the power to determine whether the money seized in the raids on six locations linked to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the 1MDB, would be returned to UMNO or not.

"Based on sources of information received from preliminary evidence of witnesses, the money (RM116.7 million) and the way the money was kept, police believed the money was obtained in an illegal manner, so we carried out raids...now give an opportunity to the police to carry out investigation.

“There are processes and ways of making the claim. We must follow the process provided by the law, the police have a period of one year to complete the investigation on the case under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFA) 2001,” he told reporters after officiating the 2018 PDRM Innovations Day Celebration at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), here today.

UMNO filed an application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court demanding that the RM116.7 million allegedly belonging to the party should be returned to the party.

Based on the demand statement, UMNO sought a declaration that the raid and seizure carried out on May 17, 2018 at the premises concerned were wrongful in terms of the law and UMNO sought an order for the return of the money to the party.

They also sought an order for the return of money amounting to RM43.3 million which was the difference in amount between RM160 million and RM116.7 million to UMNO.

When asked on the report in a portal on the claim by a jeweller based in Dubai that jewellery costing US$5 million which was claimed to have been handed over to Najib's wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, be returned to them, he said police were processing the second letter from the goldsmith concerned.

He said only a small portion of the jewellery seized in several raids on properties linked to Najib belonged to the goldsmith based in Dubai.

"We received the first letter that wanted the police to return all the jewellery, but actually what we have is only a portion of the items that they claimed...we did not find the others and maybe they are with her (Rosmah),” he said.