With seized items valued, it is time to take legal action, says home minister

KUALA LUMPUR (June 29): It is time to take legal action now that the items seized from homes linked to former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak have already been valued by the authorities, said Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.

"Whatever happens next, legal action needs to be taken, and it must not take too long since the Task Force is there to resolve issues related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and SRC International Sdn Bhd (SRC).

"Appropriate legal action should be taken to ensure that the parties involved are brought to justice,” Bernama reported Muhyiddin telling the media after visiting the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex at Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI), Johor yesterday.

Muhyiddin also said that the value of the seized items are unprecedented in the history of the country.

"This is extraordinary. There are people who say that the situation is quite the same as what happened in the Philippines under the Marcos regime.

“People here are in a state of disbelief over the items and their value, which are linked to the 1MDB issue,” said Muhyiddin.

“What Datuk Seri Najib had allegedly acquired was far too much and very embarrassing,” Bernama reported him as saying.

On Wednesday, the police revealed that the final tally of all the items seized from the six properties in Putrajaya, Pavilion Residences and Jalan Langgak Duta linked to Najib in May including cash in 26 different currencies, 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 284 handbags, 423 watches and 234 sunglasses, totalled RM900 million to RM1.1 billion.

The 234 sunglasses of various brands including Gucci, Versace and Cartier alone were estimated to be worth some RM374,000.

“It took three whole days, with 22 officers from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and six cash counting machines, to tally the final cash sum,” said Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh.

Amar said the police had also deployed more than 150 policemen to carry out the counting and tallying of all the items and merchandise seized from the six properties. “They have been working non-stop for 16 days including throughout the Hari Raya festive season.