KUALA LUMPUR: Two accounts belonging to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at AmBank Islamic have already been closed, said the special task force — before The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) alleged in its report last week that billions of ringgit were moved to his accounts from state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) — confirming that the premier had two accounts there.

“Regarding the freeze orders issued on July 6, 2015 against six bank accounts, no bank accounts at AmBank Islamic held by the prime minister on that date were frozen because the bank accounts had already been closed on Aug 30, 2013 and March 9, 2015, respectively. The special task force has obtained bank documents related to these accounts,” said the special task force in a joint statement yesterday.

According to The Malaysian Insider (TMI), this appears to be the first confirmation that Najib held two bank accounts at AmBank, as reported by the WSJ in its July 2 article alleging that US$700 million (RM2.65 billion) was moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB into Najib’s personal accounts.

Najib had refuted the allegations and claimed it was a political ploy engineered by his opponents. The WSJ had, however, insisted that its exposé was based on solid documentation sourced from government investigators probing 1MDB.

The special task force, comprising the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, was announced by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail on Saturday following the WSJ report to probe the alleged movement of funds into Najib’s accounts. It issued a freeze order on Monday for six bank accounts “of the parties suspected to be involved in the case”.

The timing of the closures of Najib’s accounts, noted TMI, was soon after the alleged fund transfers were made.

The WSJ reported that US$681 million originating from Tanore Finance, a company in the British Virgin Islands, was deposited into Najib’s accounts in two transactions on March 21 and 25 in 2013, ahead of the general election in May that year.

Another US$11.1 million originating from Finance Ministry-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd was moved in two tranches between December 2014 and February this year.

Note that the task force said one of the accounts had been closed on Aug 30, 2013, and that another was closed on March 9 this year.

Meanwhile, the task force also confirmed it had raided 1MDB’s office at Menara IMC in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday at 9.40am.

It said the search of the premises was completed at 6.45pm and that materials required for its investigation were obtained, including minutes of meetings of 1MDB’s board of directors, the Minute Book, bank statements and other bank details, reconciliation statements, ledger books, agreements of business and investment dealings, and files on 1MDB’s corporate social responsibility activities. The team also seized several notebook computers.

Abdul Gani will be using the investigation documents furnished by the special task force and not any documents published in the WSJ or elsewhere, added the task force.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 10, 2015.