KUALA LUMPUR: The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which broke the news about US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) of funds allegedly going into private bank accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has now posted documents online that detail the money trail.
These documents include a remittance application form, a cash deposit authorisation letter and charts outlining the flow of money.
Some numbers, however, have been blanked out in the documents.
Among the documents, which the WSJ said were sourced “from a Malaysian government investigation”, were three remittance application forms by Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd.
On Dec 26, 2014, RM27 million and RM5 million, respectively, were transferred to a recipient listed as AmPrivate Banking — 1MY, while RM10 million was remitted on Feb 10, 2015.
The WSJ said in those forms, details of payments were listed as fund transfers for “corporate social responsibility programmes”.
Ihsan Perdana’s account was with Affin Bank.
There were also overseas transactions of US$620 million and US$61 million from Tanore Finance Corp through Falcon Private Bank on March 21 and 23, 2013, respectively, backed by computer-generated MT103 credit transfer documents, said the WSJ report.
Also, a letter from Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil to a branch manager of AmIslamic Bank Bhd was also made available online over three bank accounts.
In the letter, it is stated that “given the respective schedules of both the account holder and myself (including various international trips and meetings scheduled, and other potential ad hoc travel requirements), I believe that there will be occasions where I may not be available to provide necessary transfer and remittance instructions to the bank”.
According to the WSJ, the letter then goes on stating “pursuant to the above and the authorisation granted to me, arising from my appointment as the authorised personnel in relation to the accounts, kindly note my nomination of the following representative to arrange for urgent cash deposits into the accounts where required for purposes of, inter alia, clearances of urgent cheques against my instruction”.
A name and IC details on the document, however, were blanked out.
Nik Faisal is a director of Finance Ministry-owned company SRC International International Sdn Bhd.
Najib is chairman of the advisory board of 1Malaysia Development Bhd, which has accumulated RM42 billion in debt, after just six years of being set up, said the WSJ.
Last Thursday, the WSJ and UK-based website Sarawak Report revealed that up to US$700 million was allegedly transferred to two bank accounts under Najib's name at AmBank. — The Malaysian Insider
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 8, 2015.