KUALA LUMPUR: FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said some of the items seized by police belong to relatives and various third parties who have initiated legal process to claim their items.
“They have started the legal process to claim their items from police,” Najib said.
In a statement yesterday, Najib disputed the valuation of the items seized by police as
“such valuation is subjective
and is subject to when the gifts were given”.
“As most of the items were gifts accumulated over decades, the family is not aware of how much was paid by those who had gifted these items.
“Any valuation based on retail price and at current prices would be unrealistic, likely to be grossly inflated and will give a distorted picture as these items were received as gifts over a period that spans decades,” he added.
Najib was referring to a press conference held by Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh on Wednesday to announce the total value of items seized from residences related to Najib in May over a probe into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
Amar said including the cash seizure of RM116.7 million, the total value of the seized items was between RM900 million and
RM1.1 billion.
“The Najib Razak family maintains the seizures by police are mostly gifts from friends, foreign dignitaries, including royalty, for various occasions, including official visits and family events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and engagements,” Najib said.
On a Rolex Daytona watch that police valued at RM3.4 million, and said to be the most expensive watch among the items seized, Najib said the item was a gift from an interior minister, who was also a prince of a Middle Eastern country who visited Malaysia in March this year.
“The police should also have stated that this item, along with several others, were contained in a box with the royal crest of a foreign country.
“This fact should not have been omitted,” Najib said, adding that many of the items seized
were contained in boxes labelled by staff members with the
items’ description, photographs, date of gift and the identity
of the persons who gave the gifts.
In a related development, Najib said he and his family were ready to cooperate with police.
“Should the police call our family for questioning over this matter (seized items), we will provide our full cooperation.
“To the best of our ability, we shall help them identify those who have given the gifts over the decades,” he said.
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