KUALA LUMPUR: Umno is claiming RM43.3 million in losses from the police force, alleging that this amount of cash went missing during police raids at the Pavilion Residences in May.
The claims were made via a writ of summons filed in the High Court last week.
The party is claiming that the amount of cash kept at the apartment by former president Datuk Seri Najib Razak was in fact RM160 million and not RM116.7 as announced by police.
Efforts to get comments from Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Fuzi Harun and Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh, however, proved futile.
Umno had an application at the High Court for the return of the RM116.7 million as well as the RM43.3 million which went missing.
Lawyer Datuk Hariharan Tara Singh, in a statement Tuesday, had said a statement of claim was filed, upon instructions from his client, on Sept 20 while a writ was produced the following day.
Hariharan, Umno’s main legal representative from Messrs Scivetti & Associates, said the writ was served on several defendants.
When contacted, he had said Umno’s Datuk Seri Abd Rauf Yusoh was named the plaintiff in the case.
Documents sighted by the New Straits Times Press name federal police Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) deputy director (intelligence and operations) Datuk Mohd Sakri Arifin; CCID Assistant Superintendent R. Rajagopal; Amar; the IGP; and, the Malaysian government as defendants.
High Court Deputy Registrar Rumaizah Baharom had set Oct 15 for case management.
Based on the statement of claim, Umno is seeking a declaration that the search and seizure on May 17 was wrongfully conducted under the law.
Apart from the return of the cash, Umno is also seeking general, aggravated and exemplary damages.
The plaintiff alleges that even though Umno had sought the return of the cash prior to filing charges, the defendants had failed and were not willing to do so.
As a result of the defendants’ actions, the plaintiff claims that Umno lost its right to use the funds and incurred losses.
Rauf alleged that Umno gives its president the power to obtain resources and manage its funds for various purposes, including for general elections.
The plaintiff also claimed that the election funds are held solely by the Umno president and no other officer or member of the party had access to nor full knowledge regarding the fund.
All election funds, he claimed, are handed down from one president to the next.
Rauf claimed a strongroom was built at the prime minister’s official residence in Seri Perdana for the purpose of holding such funds and after Barisan Nasional’s defeat in the 14th general election, the funds were moved to an apartment in Pavilion Residence in Jalan Raja Chulan, from which the money had been seized by police.