Billions of ringgit was to buy votes, High Court told

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court was told that the US$681mil received by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from Tanore Finance Corporation was said to be used to “buy votes” in preparation for the general election in 2013.

A senior officer with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), Nur Aida Ariffin, 37, said the monies were received through Falcon Private Bank Singapore and channeled into an AmPrivate Banking account with ending number 694 some time in 2013.

Tanore Finance Corporation is a company belonging to Eric Tan, who is an associate of fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.

Nur Aida, who was testifying in Najib’s corruption and money laundering trial involving RM2.28bil, said a complaint was lodged on May 4, 2015, about the monies.

She said an investigation was carried out in accordance with Section 16 of the MACC Act 2009.

“The content of the complaint, among others, stated that Najib, who was the chairman of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) board of advisers and finance minister, had received funds from 1MDB totaling RM3.2bil for his personal use,” the witness said.

Nur Aida, who is the 49th prosecution witness, was reading her witness statement during the examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib here on Tuesday (Jan 2).

She added that the focus of MACC’s investigation on Najib was for offences under Section 23 of the MACC 2009, in relation to the large sum of money that came into the former Pekan MP’s two bank accounts ending 694 and 880 between 2011 and 2014.

The investigation looked into the suspicion that Najib had allegedly misused his position throughout his tenure as the prime minister, the finance minister and the chair of the 1MBD board of advisers.

“I conducted an investigation based on documents from Bank Negara, the police and the Finance Ministry,” she said.

The hearing continues before Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.