Police unearth link between Jho Low and jewels found at Najib-linked apartments

The Edge reports that the police have established a connection between fugitive businessperson Jho Low and jewellery that was seized from apartments linked to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The link was unearthed after investigators had traced back to 1MDB, hundreds of millions of dollars that went into four company accounts in Singapore.

Some US$247.59 million (RM1.03 billion) of the 1MDB-linked funds were spent by the companies to purchase the now mostly seized jewellery, from 30 jewellers around the world. 

The items were found at the Pavilion Residences units that were raided last year in Kuala Lumpur.

Blackstone Real Estate Partners, Blackrock Commodities, Alsen Chance Holdings and Brightstone Jewellery, the companies in question, are owned by Low's right-hand man, Eric Tan Kim Loong.

Low had been found by Singapore's authorities to have used Tan's name as proxy to open corporate bank accounts. This includes the Tanore account linked to Najib's RM2.6 billion case.

Funds in the Blackstone and Alsen Chance accounts had been traced by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), to 1MDB monies raised in the Aabar-BVI phase.

Riza Aziz, Najib's stepson, is alleged to have used US$1.2 million from the Alsen Chance account to purchase a rare movie poster.

The raid on the Najib-linked apartments saw 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 401 watches and cash in various currencies, and 567 handbags seized by the police.

The publication reported that most of the luxury goods had been seized from an apartment owned by Obyu Holdings Bhd.

Obyu Holdings is owned by Bustari Yusof, the brother of former BN works minister Fadillah Yusof. Bustari is a close confidante of Najib.

The government is reported to have filed a forfeiture notice for these items.

Yesterday, Najib Abdul Razak dismissed reports that the seized items had been purchased by fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho using stolen 1MDB funds.

"The forfeiture notice against me and my family is on the grounds that the value of the assets does not commensurate with our total income," the former prime minister said in a Facebook post.

"Not once in the forfeiture notice was there mention in detail that the assets were purchased by Low using 1MDB funds."

In his post, Najib said that the items were gifts from foreign dignitaries when he was the prime minister.