Malaysian authorities have been informed about the US$500 million (RM1.89 billion) deposited into the private accounts of Penang-born billionaire Jho Low as part of their investigation into the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB's funds, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Jho Low, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, is a close friend of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's family.
This follows reports last week, based on leaked government investigation papers, that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) in state funds were deposited into the private bank accounts of Najib at AmBank.
Whistleblower site Sarawak Report also claimed yesterday that RM2 million in cash was deposited into the AffinBank account of Rosmah Mansor, the prime minister's wife, and that this was also a subject of the investigation.
Sarawak Report also published what it said was Rosmah's bank account number, which Malaysiakini verified as belonging to one "Rosmah binti Mansor".
In the latest report, the WSJ said Singapore police in a letter dated March 19 wrote to Malaysia's central bank about US$529 million (RM2 billion) in deposits between 2011 and 2013 into a Singapore bank account controlled by Jho Low.
WSJ, which sighted the letter, said this was in response to Malaysian authorities asking Singapore for help in their investigation into 1MDB.
Money transferred into S'pore BSI account
Singapore authorities said the money originated from a Swiss-based bank account of Good Star Limited, but the business was shut down in February 2014 and could no longer be located.
“If proceeds of crime have been transferred to Singapore, we would like to consider whether an offence has been committed in Singapore,” WSJ quoted the letter signed by Chua Jia Leng, the head of the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office of the Singapore police, to Malaysia's Bank Negara.
WSJ said the police letter revealed the money had been transferred into Jho Low's Singapore BSI account.
The report also pointed out 1MDB also claimed to be holding US$1.1 billion (RM4.2 billion) in "units" in a Singapore BSI account, the true status of which could not be ascertain.
"It is not clear whether there is a connection between the two accounts. A spokeswoman for BSI had no comment," reported WSJ.
The WSJ's report is an affirmation of a similar report by whistleblower site Sarawak Report on Tuesday.
The WSJ said prior to the funds being deposited into Jho Low's business account from Good Star Ltd, it was not clear as to where Jho Low got the money from.
However, Sarawak Report in an article in April claimed Good Star was also controlled by Jho Low.
That report said Good Star received deposits of more than US$1 billion (RM3.78 billion) from a joint-venture between PetroSaudi International and 1MDB, even though the company had no links to the joint venture partners.
Finance Ministry-owned 1MDB has to date accumulated a debt of RM41.8 billion. Najib is also the finance minister.
A special task force comprising the police, Bank Negara, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and facilitated by the Attorney-General Chambers, is investigating these allegations.
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