The NYT has raised questions on how Najib's incredible wealth was accumulated

KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak must explain his family’s wealth, worth hundreds of millions of ringgit, in the wake of a February 8 expose by the New York Times. His official income was less than RM500, 000 per annum.

“The expose which surfaced the incredible wealth of Najib’s immediate family, raised questions on how this wealth has been accumulated,”

The NYT report highlighted the fact that Najib, “who earns an annual salary of about US$100,000 (RM350, 000) as Prime Minister, has been battered by news media reports of his wife’s lavish spending”.

It pointed out a series of photos which showed the Prime Minister’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, holding at least nine different Birkin handbags which typically cost between US$9,000 (RM32,000) and US$150,000 (RM530,000) a piece.

“My colleague, Raub MP Ariff Sabri, has alleged that the Prime Minister keeps ‘piles and piles’ of ringgit bills stacked in his safe,” said Pua.

Invoices and other documents obtained by The Times show millions of dollars in jewellery ordered for Rosmah in Hong Kong in 2008 and 2009 . . . diamond and emerald rings, and diamond, emerald and ruby bracelets, he added.

The NYT story also unearthed the previously secret transactions of Najib’s 38 year old step-son, Riza Aziz, who bought an apartment in Park Laurel, New York for US$33.5 million (RM117.5 million) and a house in Beverly Hills worth at least US$17.5 million (RM61.5 million) in hard cash.

“Both of these properties were curiously enough, purchased from a Jho Low — connected to the troubled 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) which has accumulated RM42 billion in debts – and whose own wealth is similarly somewhat unexplained,” said Pua. “Riza Aziz has confirmed these transactions,.”

“In fact the Beverly Hills house has been demolished and will be rebuilt at millions of dollars. All these funds appear to be at Riza’s disposal despite the fact that he had previously only been a junior-level banker at HSBC.”

The Prime Minister’s stepson also co-owns the company Red Granite, founded in 2010, and has since funded the movies “The Wolf on Wall Street” and “Dumb and Dumber 2”.

Last year, continued Pua, Red Granite was in a legal wrangling with the former producers of “Dumb and Dumber” who alleged the company was “funded with monies that include proceeds from offences against a foreign nation that involve bribery of public officials, or misappropriation, theft, or embezzlement of public funds by a public official.”

“The case has since been confidentially settled out of court last year.”

The entire story was further spiced up by The Sarawak Report which just published a story which alleged that Riza failed to register his Beverly Hills property purchase with the Californian tax authorities and hence avoided paying the relevant transfer taxes.

Najib must come clean on unexplained wealth of his family.

Regardless of the drama in the relationship between Jho Low on the one hand, and Riza, Najib and Rosmah on the other hand, worthy of a Hollywood script, Pua pointed out that various reports show that the Prime Minister’s family has been able to acquire assets globally worth hundreds of millions of ringgit and to spend lavishly.

The Prime Minister’s Office, he noted, has defended Najib’s wealth by claiming that “neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the Prime Minister’s “position, responsibilities and legacy of family assets”.

The family’s wealth and spending patterns certainly appear more than “unusual”, stressed Pua, even after taking into consideration the Prime Minister Office’s statement.

“It is time for Najib to come clean on the unexplained wealth of his family, even after taking into account any possible inheritance from his father, the former Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein, who reportedly had a reputation for frugality.”