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1MDB’s RM60m channeled to casino!
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 4, 2024: 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB)’s US$13 million (RM60 million) were channeled into Las Vegas Sands LLC casino.
This was the shocking revelation by fraud investigator Richard Templeman who said the funds came from 1MDB via Red Granite Capital, a company owned by Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz.
That reveals how badly disgraced and shameless former premier Najib “1MDB” Najib managed the so-called Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF).
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a news report on the court proceedings:
US$13mil paid to casino for Jho Low, Eric Tan, court hears
-04 Nov 2024, 05:08 PM
Fraud investigator Richard Templeman says the funds came from 1MDB via Red Granite Capital, a company owned by Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz.
A fraud investigator testified that a company linked to Riza Aziz, Najib Razak’s stepson, transferred US$41 million to a shell company based in BVI for the benefit of Jho Low (centre) and his associate, Eric Tan.
KUALA LUMPUR: US$13 million was paid to a Las Vegas-based casino and resort company for use by fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, and his associate, Eric Tan Kim Loong, a witness told the High Court.
UK-based financial fraud investigator Richard Templeman said these two “players” utilised the money, which originated from 1MDB, at Las Vegas Sands LLC.
The witness was testifying for the plaintiffs, 1MDB and its three subsidiaries, 1MDB Energy Holdings Ltd, 1MDB Energy Ltd and 1MDB Energy (Langat) Ltd.
The plaintiffs are suing defendants Riza Aziz and two companies linked to him – Red Granite Pictures Incorporated (RGP) and Red Granite Capital Ltd (RGC) – for misappropriating funds amounting to US$248 million.
In his witness statement, Templeman said his research indicated that Las Vegas Sands LLC was a casino and resort company.
He said that on June 20, 2012, the sum of US$41 million was transferred from Red Granite Capital, a company owned by Riza Aziz, the stepson of Najib Razak, to Alsen Chance Holdings, a shell company.
From that sum, Alsen Chance transferred US$13 million to Las Vegas Sands LLC, with US$11 million transacted on July 10, 2012 marked for “Player No 3454296”.
Two days later, another US$2 million was transferred, marked for “Tan Kim Loong, Player No 4678710”.
“On July 23, 2012, about US$7.3 million and US$1.3 million were credited to the Alsen Chance account from Las Vegas Sands LLC. These payments were marked “funds due from Low Taek Jho” and “funds due from Tan Kim Loong”.
“It seems likely these funds were the balance of those paid out to Las Vegas Sands LLC on July 10 and 11, 2012 and therefore represent the funds transferred from Red Granite Capital to Alsen Chance,” he said.
He said Alsen Chance, a British Virgin Islands-incorporated shell company used to launder funds misappropriated from 1MDB and SRC International, was owned by Tan.
The witness said Alsen Chance was one of 23 companies placed in liquidation to assist with investigations into, and recovery of, 1MDB assets.
The plaintiffs claim the funds had been siphoned out of the company through two companies linked to Low.
They said the monies were misappropriated for gambling activities, to fund movies produced by RGP, and to purchase real estate and movie memorabilia.
1MDB claims that between 2011 and 2012, US$10 million was siphoned out and remitted to the defendants via Good Star, a company owned by Low, through a layering exercise.
1MDB had raised US$1 billion in 2009, of which US$700 million went to Good Star in the belief that it was a subsidiary of 1MDB Petro Saudi Ltd, a joint venture company.
Good Star then paid US$10 million to a bank account belonging to RGP which had Riza as its signatory.
Another US$238 million was also siphoned out in 2012, when 1MDB engaged Goldman Sachs to arrange and underwrite two separate bonds amounting to US$3 billion raised to acquire certain energy assets.
The statement claimed that after 1MDB or its subsidiaries had received the proceeds from the bonds, Low caused the siphoning out of a substantial portion of the net proceeds of the bonds to a Swiss bank account belonging to an entity called Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.
It said Low set up an account at BSI Bank in Lugano, Switzerland, in the name of Aabar-BVI, a fictitious company, and arranged for the fraudulent transfer of around US$1.367 billion from 1MDB to Aabar-BVI.
The US$238 million was then sent to the defendants between June 18 and Nov 14, 2012.
1MDB claims that Riza, who controlled the two Red Granite companies, which produced the Hollywood hit The Wolf of Wall Street, knew or ought to have known that the funds had been misappropriated and used for their benefit or their associates.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the defendants are liable to account for the funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
Alternatively, the plaintiffs are seeking a repayment of the funds misappropriated from it based on unjust enrichment.
In their defence, the defendants claimed to have obtained a loan from the Saudi royal family or the International Petroleum Investment Company to produce several films in the US.
The hearing continues before Judicial Commissioner Raja Ahmad Mohzanuddin Shah Raja Mohzan.
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