This week, an UMNO Council Member, the Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin, smugly told reporters that his ‘simple rural’ constituents in Sabah had no idea about the United States Department of Justice and its report into 1MDB.
He added that neither he nor they would have a clue who ‘Malaysian Official 1′ could be. After all, they don’t speak English.
However, thanks to determined efforts by fellow Malaysians, many of whom do speak very good English, this can all now change.
Over the past few days doughty individuals have tackled the translation of the DOJ’s 136 page document, much of which is couched in legal jargon, into plain Malay.
So, bemused local folk need no longer rely on third hand reports or find themselves misled and confused by interested parties seeking to conceal the truth of this indictment.
Smug Bung – Najib loyalist reckons his constituents are trapped in ignorance
Neither do they have to choose whether to believe the interpretations of Sarawak Report and the rest of the world’s media – or Najib’s supporters, who claim there is no evidence that either he or 1MDB are directly implicated in the theft of billions from Malaysia.
They can find out for themselves [the report is currently fixed alongside the Auditor’s Report into 1MDB on the front page of our site].
Bung and his colleagues may of course resort to their favourite theme, which is to claim that this is a ‘false and doctored’ translation.
However, since the DOJ document is public and transparent and online for all to see (unlike most information produced by their own government) they will have to produce the evidence to test their point.
Sarawak Report urges readers to download our link and send the document far and wide.
Maybe people should highlight what they believe to be the salient points to pass on to friends, since Malaysia’s mainstream media have been banned from performing this basic task?
Use Facebook, Whatsapp, even email to pass on the evidence – for protection upload the document onto so many links that the authorities, who are shutting down Sarawak Report, cannot shut down the truth from the DOJ.
Then those ‘ordinary simple people’, represented by Bung and others, can choose for themselves whether or not to make their voices heard in numbers across all parties, races and religions in favour of fair, honest and clean government for Malaysia, as part of Bersih 5.
Or to settle for a world-beating, corrupt dictatorship instead.
As with online media, Najib can shut up a few hundred and pay a few thousand (or even a hundred thousand), but he cannot jail tens and hundreds of thousands of peaceful, united people, supported by many good citizens across the globe, who are now watching how Malaysian events unfold.
[We will be updating the translation after it has been refined over the next few days]
he US Justice Department’s decision to seize more than $1bn in assets allegedly stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund has sent shockwaves through the Southeast Asian nation. Until the US announcement last month, most Malaysians were resigned to creeping authoritarianism in their country as the prime minister, Najib Razak, concentrated power in his hands and eviscerated the last vestiges of independent governance.
Mr Najib has in effect removed anyone — from the deputy prime minister to the attorney-general — who questioned his role in the alleged theft of billions of dollars from 1 Malaysia
Mr Najib’s party, United Malays National Organisation (Umno), has ruled the country without interruption for six decades with a mix of cash handouts and suppression of political opponents. But the alleged involvement of Mr Najib, his family and associates with the 1MDB scandal goes beyond the usual levels of corruption in Malaysia. Now the Obama administration has sent an implicit signal that Mr Najib no longer enjoys the unquestioning protection and support of the US.
Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has hardly been a paragon of democracy. But it has always been a staunch western ally and an example of moderate Islam in a world of increasing radicalisation. Thanks to Mr Najib, those assumptions are now in doubt.
In Washington, Malaysia gets little airtime. If the topic crossed Barack Obama’s desk at all it was usually in the context of Mr Najib’s strong support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal or his role as a moderate Muslim bulwark against extremism in Southeast Asia. On Christmas Eve, 2014, the two leaders played a round of golf in Hawaii, something Mr Najib has touted ever since as evidence of his American backing.
He has also cleverly courted China in what analysts say is a warning to Washington that he could move Malaysia into Beijing’s sphere of influence if US support wavers.
In recent weeks, Mr Najib’s government has cynically highlighted the threat of terrorism in his country with hundreds of arrests of alleged terror suspects. Then on Monday the country introduced a new security law that gives Mr Najib sweeping powers to declare a state of emergency in a move human rights groups and UN officials said would allow him to act with impunity and trample human rights.
The Obama administration must not bow to Mr Najib’s attempts to bounce Washington into continued support. Islamist radicalisation is likely to be exacerbated by the current drift towards authoritarianism and the climate of impunity fostered by the prime minister as he clings to power.
TPP is, sadly, no longer a US priority and is opposed by both major presidential candidates. A Malaysian alliance with China is very unlikely, particularly given Umno’s patchy record when it comes to relations with its own large Chinese minority.
As he nears the end of his tenure in the White House, Mr Obama should encourage all US agencies to pursue the 1MDB case to the full extent of American and international law. That applies not only to potential charges against Mr Najib and his associates, but also those involving banks and companies that have abetted the alleged launderingof more than $3.5bn stripped from 1MDB.
Finally, for the sake of the people and the country he professes to serve, Mr Najib should step aside until investigations have run their course or he has cleared his name.
Further leaked documents from the Malaysian enquiries into 1MDB have been made available to Sarawak Report, which indicate that the Prime Minister and his wife utilised over RM1.15 million of the fund’s stolen cash on purchasing hormone-based, anti-ageing products via a clinic in KL!
They make clear that whilst the PM is referred to by the Department of Justice investigators at “Malaysian Official 1″, he was dubbed “B1″ by domestic MACC investigators.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) enquiry into 1MDB focussed on the local diversions of SRC cash, which had been originally raised from a RM4 billion from the public pension fund KWAP
AG Apandi Ali “cleared” Najib, but could not deny that the money went from SRC into the PM’s account…
It has been established that altogether someRM70 million was channelled into a series of AmBank accounts belonging to Najib between summer 2014 and early 2015.
However, after sacking the former Attorney General, who was on the point of bringing charges last July, Najib installed his ally, Apandi Ali, who dismissed the charges and ruled the case was closed.
Najib has admitted he did receive the money, but Apandi accepted his excuse that he had not realised that the millions of dollars had come from 1MDB/SRC rather than his “Saudi donor” (money he originally claimed he’d never put to personal use).
The Prime Minister has not been required to pay the money back.
The key accounts detailed in Apandi’s flow charts….
Such looting from SRC may seem small beer compared to the billion dollars that arrived in Najib’s bank accounts from abroad – money now also confirmed by the DOJ as having originated from thefts from 1MDB.
However, SRC was a home-based investigation and it is significant that Najib has just completed his moves to protect himself by dismissing all top three officers from their posts at the MACC after the organisation challenged Apandi’s ruling that there was nothing illegal.
The world’s most expensive beauty product?
Meanwhile, documents obtained from that MACC investigation show the outcome of enquiries by officials into some of the expenditures made from these accounts.
These include a cheque for RM1,154,000 that was made out from account number 2112022011906 to a certain Datuk Sadiq bin Mohammed on February 4th 2015:
RM1,154,000 – for what purpose?
Notes attached to the photocopied cheques suggest that investigators asked Datuk Sidiq the purpose of the payment:
“Pembelian 2 set ubat jenis Plantserum External Apllication Food based GH-9 Honey Softgel dan Food GH-9 Honey Soft Gel pada harga USD159,000 setiap satu set utk kegunaan B1 dan isteri”
This translates:
“The purchase of 2 sets of medication type External Plant Serum Food Application based softgel GH-9 Honey and Honey Food GH-9 Soft Gel at USD159,000 each set for the use of B1 and wife”
Who are B1 and Wife?
Familiar signature of ‘B1′ on every cheque!
As with the DOJ indictment the rest of the document leaves little doubt as to whom the investigators meant by “B1 and Wife”.
Because, the next items of expenditure examined from these accounts include several building works and alterations at addresses which are known to belong to Najib Razak and his wife.
These include, for example, RM100,000 for construction work on a police guard room and amenities at their KL residence made payable to an outfit called ABS Trend Master Sdn Bhd on 16th February 2015:
RM100,000 for construction at “B1’s” address
This payment also has a note attached:
“Kerja-kerja pembinaan satu unit pondok polis (dengan bilik mandi dan cabinet), satu tempat pembuangan sampah konkirt dan satu bilik sebaguna (dengan bilik mandi dan cabinet) di rumah B1 No 11 Jalan Langgak Duta Taman Duta KL”
Which translates:
“Construction work of the police post unit (with bathroom and cabinet), concrete landfills and a multi-purpose room (with bathroom and cabinet) in B1 house No 11 Jalan Taman Duta Duta Langgak KL”
It is of little surprise that the expenditures from these accounts, were for the benefit of the “first couple”, given that Najib has admitted that this and the other accounts were in his name.
His excuse is merely that he did not know where the money had come from.
However, what will leave Malaysians gasping is how two doses of serum and an oral product could possibly cost such a huge amount of money? What possible treatment could this involve?
After some initial bafflement, Sarawak Report believes it has sleuthed the answer to this USD159,000 question.
The most likely explanation is that the ‘GH-9′ description refers to the ‘Growth Factor 9′ hormone, which is being currently touted as all the rage as an anti-ageing product for the ‘super-rich’.
The highly controversial drug is banned for athletes and illegal to prescribe in the United States, except for growth-related conditions.
One typical advertisement for GF-9 – is this the product the Datuk shelled out for?
A series of online advertisements describe the product as being the favourite anti-ageing secret of the rich and famous…. a
For the rich and famous….
And we now believe we have tracked down Datuk Sidiq bin Mohammed as none other than the head doctor at an outfit that describes itself as a “Society for the Advancement of hormones and Healthy Ageing Medicine”, based in KL!
Hormone based anti-ageing clinic whose doctor is none other than a Datuk Sidiq bin Mohammed
Unconventional!
Sahamm touts itself as an ‘alternative medicine’ centre, although of course hormone treatment involves the use of powerful conventional drugs.
It is however highly unconventional to use human growth hormone to promote anti-ageing and physical strengthening.
Doctors would certainly not prescribe such medicaments in conventional medicine. For athletes it is illegal and for anti-ageing it is not an approved use of the drug by the FDA – which is to say that it is illegal to prescribe for anti-ageing in the United States.
‘Alternative medicine’ guru, who says hormone treatment can halt ageing
Nevertheless, Sahamm boasts within its copious promotional online literature that it has the secret to bring “life to years and years to life”.
Heading the clinic in KL is another Datuk Doctor, Dr Selvam Rengasamy, who appears more like a rockstar than a doctor in his online promo.
He sums up his enticing approach to treatment and his secret to holding back the years as apparently using conventional medicine in unconventional ways (which are plainly very expensive):
Disease is but a signal from a body that has lost it’s harmony. Conventional medicine treats diseases with patented medicines which is actually a downstream medicine. Healthy Aging Medicine is an upstream medicine where the focus is on prevention, early detection and treatment of age related dysfunction which adds
“LIFE TO YEARS AND YEARS TO LIFE”
Healthy Aging Medicine is evidence based medical care substantiated by medical research and using cutting edge technologies such as Stem Cell Therapeutics, Genetic Engineering and Genomics, Nanotechnology for treatment at the most Cellular Level.
Perhaps Datuk B1 and his wife understand the difference in meaning between “upstream medicine” and “downstream medicine”, which might to others appear to represent the abusive misuse of powerful drugs?
Cautions abound to warn against the misuse of hormones to tackle age:
“Some people turn to a substance called human growth hormone(HGH) in hopes that it will keep them feeling and looking youthful. But experts say that hope is unfounded. And worse, these products can be harmful.
“Because the body’s HGH levels naturally decrease with age, some so-called anti-aging experts have speculated and claimed that HGH products could reverse age-related bodily deterioration. But these claims, too, are unproven. The use of HGH for anti-aging is not FDA-approved.
“Companies that market these products on TV infomercials or online claim they turn back your body’s biological clock, reducing fat, building muscle, restoring hair growth and color, strengthening the immune system, normalizing blood sugar, increasing energy and improving sex life, sleepquality, vision, and memory. However, the Federal Trade Commission has seen no reliable evidence to support the claim”
Side effects can include some of the very things beauty addicts are seeking to avoid, including “Swelling due to fluid in the body’s tissues (edema)”.
There are also serious mental side-effects, according to the literature, which can only be classed as worrying in the case of Malaysia’s top decision-makers:
“HGH abuse and anabolic steroid abuse can cause serious physical and psychological side effects, including, paranoia, hallucinations, and psychosis, according to the Hormone Foundation. The effects of continued HGH and anabolic steroid abuse could be irreversible. Symptoms of psychosis include delusions, auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations. Psychotic behavior may be manifested through fearfulness or paranoia.
So, given this was public money (and a very great deal of it), perhaps the first couple can enlighten Malaysians what exactly it was spent on by Dr Sidiq bin Mohammed in his unconventional treatment plan and what effects were expected and achieved for the benefit of the nation?
SRC money, as the MACC investigators point out in their report, was supposed to be placed into money making ventures.
Have the public gained from this million ringgit investment in pumping up the first couple with unconventional hormones or can the public conclude that this has been a mammoth waste of money, or worse impacted negatively on the appearance and mental state of Malaysia’s first couple?
If so, is there not a case to answer at the Sahamm Clinic on trade description grounds and for demanding all that money back?
Malaysia’s Leader, Dogged by a Billion-Dollar Scandal, Proves Untouchable
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Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia in 2013. Over the years, he has been accused of having ties to a murder, taking kickbacks and helping concoct a criminal prosecution against a political rival.CreditLai Seng Sin/Associated Press
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The conspirators were confident. They planned to confront Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, at a cabinet meeting and demand his resignation. Prosecutors had collected evidence that Mr. Najib had deposited millions of dollars of public money into his personal bank account. Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail was ready to file criminal charges, according to Najib advisers and opposition leaders.
Mr. Najib had a reputation as a gentleman who was slow to act and never fired anyone. But when word of the plot reached him last July, he moved quickly. He dismissed both Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the man who would have taken his job, and the attorney general. And he blocked further inquiries into the allegations against him.
“They took it for granted that he was a sitting duck,” said Tony Pua, an opposition member of Parliament. “He turned the tables on them.”
Throughout Mr. Najib’s 40 years in public office, he has been easy to underestimate.
This month, the Justice Department filed a civil complaint in a money-laundering case outlining how Mr. Najib, identified as “Malaysian Official 1,” received $731 million from a government fund he oversaw. Investigators around the world are tracking the money trail to his bank accounts in what has become a billion-dollar scandal.
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Protesters demanding the resignation of Mr. Najib in Kuala Lumpur, the capital, last August. Still, Mr. Najib faces no realistic challenge to his authority and is likely to win re-election in 2018.CreditAthit Perawongmetha/Reuters
But Mr. Najib, a genteel, British-educated aristocrat who became prime minister in 2009, faces no realistic challenge to his authority and is confidently looking ahead to winning re-election in 2018.
The bank transfers are not the first scandal to threaten the career of Mr. Najib, 63, one of America’s most important allies in Southeast Asia. Over the years, he has been accused of having ties to a murder, taking kickbacks from the purchase of military hardware and helping concoct a criminal prosecution against a rival.
He has deployed the formidable powers of his office to impede investigations, silence critics, block media outlets and maintain the backing of his largely rural, Muslim base. He has deftly played Malaysia’s brand of money politics, distributing cash to buy party leaders’ loyalty.
As prime minister, he oversees Parliament, the cabinet, the police and the intelligence branch. As president of the governing party, he decides who holds key leadership positions and sits atop a vast patronage system that affects the wealth and livelihood of thousands of people.
He appointed himself finance minister, giving himself control of the state investment fund at the heart of the scandal.
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Mr. Najib playing a round of golf with President Obama in Hawaii in 2014.CreditNicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
For the United States, Mr. Najib has offered the promise of a moderate Muslim ally and an Asian partner in counterterrorism, whose nation is one of the 12 negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. As a sign of Malaysia’s growing importance, President Obama visited the country and met with Mr. Najib in 2014 and 2015. In between, they golfed together in Hawaii.
While that relationship did not deter the Justice Department investigation, his relationship with Saudi Arabia has been more helpful. Mr. Najib’s advisers say most of the money at issue was a gift from the Saudis, partly to help finance his 2013 election campaign, a position the Saudi government has loosely corroborated.
Malaysians grumble about Mr. Najib’s wealth, which he claims to have inherited, and the extravagance of his wife, Rosmah Mansor, who is known for epic overseas shopping excursions and her multimillion-dollar collection of Hermès Birkin handbags.
The allegations of high-level corruption and the lack of any impartial Malaysian investigation highlight the fact that the region’s movement toward democracy has left Malaysia untouched, said Donald Greenlees, an authority on Southeast Asia with Australian National University.
“Najib is a throwback to the era of Marcos’s Philippines and Suharto’s Indonesia with ruling families hungry for power and great wealth,” he said. “Imelda had her shoes and Rosmah has her Birkin bags. But the bags are vastly more valuable than the shoes.”
Mr. Najib has acknowledged receiving hundreds of millions of dollars, but says he has done nothing wrong and took nothing for personal gain. He said his government would “fully cooperate” with the Justice Department investigation.
“Don’t think I am a crook,” he told the party faithful in March at a rally in Pahang, his home state. “If I had wanted to rob, I would have robbed the forest here long ago. I didn’t take a single tree in Pahang. I didn’t take the bauxite mine. I didn’t take anything.”
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Police seizing equipment from the offices of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund in Kuala Lumpur last year. Mr. Najib, who gave himself extraordinary authority over the fund, is accused of taking money from it.CreditMohd Rasfan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Mr. Najib is accused of taking money from a state investment fund called 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB. He gave himself extraordinary authority over the fund as both finance minister and, until recently, advisory board chairman. The United States attorney general, Loretta Lynch, said Malaysian officials had laundered more than $3 billion from the fund through American financial institutions.
Mr. Najib’s advisers acknowledge that he received $1 billion but assert that most of it was a gift from a member of the Saudi royal family.
The current Malaysian attorney general, Mohamed Apandi Ali, announced in January that Mr. Najib had received $681 million from the Saudis and returned all but $61 million. Hecleared Mr. Najib of wrongdoingand closed an investigation by the Malaysian anticorruption commission.
Mr. Najib and Ms. Rosmah declined through a spokesman to be interviewed for this article.
Mr. Najib was destined to become prime minister, his friends and supporters say. His father was Malaysia’s second prime minister, and his uncle the third.
Balding, with a neatly trimmed graying mustache and silver-rim glasses, Mr. Najib behaves like a British gentleman with impeccable manners, they say. He is often dressed formally even for late-night meetings at his home. He is viewed as a numbers guy with an keen eye for detail.
“He’s very cool,” said Fatmi Che Salleh, his longtime friend and former political secretary. “He takes things one at a time. Everything is planned, what to do, how to do, especially now we see so many attacks on him.”
Mr. Najib grew up in a household immersed in the politics of an emerging nation and its governing party, the United Malays National Organization, or UMNO.
He was educated in Britain and studied economics, rejecting the advice of his father, Prime Minister Abdul Razak, to become an accountant.
As prime minister, Mr. Abdul Razak was well known for his frugality. He refused his children’s plea to install a swimming pool at the official residence because it would waste government funds, one brother recalled. The lesson on thrift was another piece of fatherly wisdom Mr. Najib ignored.
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Abdul Razak, the father of Mr. Najib. Mr. Abdul, who died in 1976, also served as prime minister.CreditKeystone, via Getty Images
When Mr. Abdul Razak died in 1976, Mr. Najib ran for his father’s parliamentary seat and at 22 became the youngest person ever elected to Malaysia’s Parliament. He married a minor princess, with whom he had three children.
In the mid-1980s, Mr. Najib met Ms. Rosmah, who was married with two children. The pair divorced their spouses and married in 1987. They have two children together.
Mr. Najib steadily climbed the party ladder, receiving help along the way from UMNO leaders indebted to his father, including Mahathir Mohamed, who succeeded Mr. Najib’s uncle as prime minister.
“I owed his father a great deal,” Mr. Mahathir, 91, said in an interview. “If I could do something for the son, especially as the son looks very promising, I would do it.”
He has spent his entire adult life in elective office, living in a bubble, surrounded by aides and devotees. On a trip to Europe, he did not know how to check in for a flight or find his departure gate, said a friend who traveled with him. He never packed his own suitcase; for a two-day trip, his servants packed him six suits.
Mr. Najib was deputy prime minister when the murder of a Mongolian woman and corruption allegations over the $1.2 billion purchase of two Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines nearly derailed his career.
The woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu, was the mistress of his close friend and adviser, Abdul Razak Baginda. She claimed she was owed $500,000 for helping broker the submarine deal. In 2006, she was killed by two of Mr. Najib’s bodyguards, who tried to hide the evidence by blowing up her body with C-4 explosives. They were convicted of murder.
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A Scorpene-class submarine owned by Malaysia docked at Port Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, in 2009. Accusations of corruption over the $1.2 billion purchase of two Franco-Spanish Scorpene submarines nearly derailed Mr. Najib’s career.CreditBazuki Muhammad/Reuters
Mr. Najib has denied meeting Ms. Altantuya or having a role in her death. But a decade later, he is still dogged by allegations that he was connected to the killing and received kickbacks from the submarine purchases. The French authorities are investigating whether a French company paid Mr. Najib and Mr. Abdul Razak $130 million to secure the sale. The two deny any wrongdoing.
Mr. Najib’s name has also been attached to another murky episode, the criminal case that sidelined his biggest rival, Anwar Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister who became leader of the opposition.
In a case widely seen as politically motivated, Mr. Anwar was imprisoned on sodomy charges in 1998. After his release in 2004, he began rebuilding the fractured opposition, and new sodomy charges were filed in 2008.
The accuser was Saiful Bukhari Azlan, an aide in Mr. Anwar’s party. At a trial, Mr. Saiful testified that he had met with Mr. Najib at his home two days before the sexual encounter. Mr. Saiful also met with senior police officials before the encounter.
It has never been fully explained how Mr. Najib, then deputy prime minister, happened to meet with a staff member from the opposition party at that time, or why Mr. Saiful met with police officials.
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Anwar Ibrahim in 2013. Mr. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, became leader of the opposition.CreditSanjit Das for The New York Times
Mr. Anwar was acquitted and led the opposition to victory in the popular vote in 2013, though not by enough to overcome district lines favoring Mr. Najib’s coalition.
In 2014, an appellate court overturned Mr. Anwar’s acquittal and sentenced him to five years in prison. Opposition parties have yet to coalesce behind another leader.
When Mr. Najib became prime minister seven years ago, he inherited a political system awash in cash.
“In Malaysia, politics is about money,” said Oh Ei Sun, a former political secretary to Mr. Najib and an adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. “It’s not a contest about your brilliant ideas.” Indeed, parties vie for votes by funneling money to loyal followers and financing overdue public works projects.
In May 2010, Mr. Najib demonstrated how the system works. During a by-election, he promised voters in the Sibu district that his government would pay $1.3 million for a flood-control project if his candidate won. “The understanding is quite simple,” he said. “You help me, I help you.”
He poured more than $300 million into the 2013 parliamentary elections campaign, his advisers say.
Malaysia has no limits on how much party leaders can raise or spend, and there is no reporting requirement, said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the chief executive of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysia think tank. The money is tax free, and much of it is distributed to local party leaders, who can easily pocket a share.
No law prohibits candidates from depositing donations in their personal bank accounts, even $1 billion.
“I don’t think Najib is the only one,” Mr. Wan Saiful said. “I don’t even know if he’s the biggest.”
The story of the Saudi gift has evolved with new revelations about deposits into Mr. Najib’s accounts.
Mr. Najib’s government said in January that $681 million was a gift from a member of the Saudi royal family. After questions were raised about additional deposits of hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Najib’s advisers said Saudi donors had given him about $1 billion.
His office declined to provide documentation demonstrating that either sum was a gift.
The Saudis, too, have changed their story. In February, the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said the money had come not from the government, but rather from a private citizen making “an investment in Malaysia.”
In April, after Mr. Najib and his aides met privately with Mr. Jubeir in Istanbul, Mr. Jubeir said Mr. Najib had received a gift from an unidentified Saudi source.
“It is a genuine donation with nothing expected in return,” he said.
Mr. Najib has cultivated close ties with Saudi Arabia, but even so, experts say, a gift of $1 billion was unlikely. “Nobody believes that the money came from Saudi Arabia,” said James Chin, the director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania.
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Mr. Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, in 2014, leaving the Time Warner Center in New York, where the couple has an apartment. Ms. Rosmah is known for her overseas shopping excursions and a multimillion-dollar collection of Hermes Birkin handbags.CreditMichael Appleton for The New York Times
The Justice Department complaint said Mr. Najib’s relatives and associates had taken more than $1 billion from 1MDB, spending it on luxury real estate, gambling, Hollywood moviemaking and high-priced artwork.
Ibrahim Suffian, the director of the Merdeka Center, an independent polling agency in Malaysia, said surveys showed that two-thirds of the public were unhappy with Mr. Najib, yet people feel powerless to remove him from office.
As popular support has eroded, Mr. Najib’s government has blocked news outlets, prevented opposition leaders from campaigning and prosecuted critics under a colonial-era sedition act that he once promised to repeal.
“Clearly, in order to save his own political skin, he’s prepared to destroy what little remains of basic civil liberties and human rights in Malaysia,” said Phil Robertson, the deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
The effort to force Mr. Najib from office — and the threat of prison — have given him new resolve to remain in power until the 2018 election and beyond, advisers say. His prospects are good.
“He will be more invincible in 2018,” said Mr. Oh, the former Najib aide, “because as it is, he is already unstoppable.”
