Umno has filed a suit at the Kuala Lumpur High Court in a bid to reclaim RM116.7 million that had been seized by the police in raids on properties linked to former party president Najib Abdul Razak.

In a statement today, Umno’s lead counsel Hariharan Tara Singh said the suit was filed last Friday and a statement of claim had been delivered to all five defendants in the case.

“[The suit seeks to claim], among others, a sum that had supposedly been seized amounting to RM116,700,000 by the Royal Malaysian Police that belongs to Umno.

“The court has set Oct 15 for case management before deputy registrar Rumaizah Baharom […]

“The defendants have 14 days from the date of the writ to cause an appearance to be entered [in court],” he said.

According to the court’s website, the plaintiff in the case is Umno’s executive secretary Rauf Yusoh.

The five defendants are the government of Malaysia, inspector-general of police Fuzi Mohd Harun, Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh Ishar Singh, the police officer who led the operation to seize the money, Mohd Sakri Arifin, and a certain individual named Rajagopal Ramadhasas.

On June 27, Amar announced that the police had seized items estimated to worth between RM910 million and RM1.1 billion in raids on properties linked to Najib. 

The haul included RM116.7 million in 26 different currencies, as well as various valuables including jewellery, luxury handbags, sunglasses, and watches.

Umno had claimed the cash belongs to the party, and has no relation to 1MDB and its former subsidiary SRC International, which the police were investigating.