ANY remaining sympathy for Najib Razak will disappear once authorities make public that cash seized from locations linked to the former prime minister could surpass RM300 million.

After that, one can expect the full glare of scrutiny to be on Umno and the war chest it amassed for GE14.

One of the biggest fundraisers for Umno has already fled Malaysia, as the biggest cache of cash, handbags, and other valuable items were seized from Bustari Yusof’s apartment at Pavilion Residences.

He was Najib’s senior political counsel, economic adviser, and the man the former prime minister turned to when things went pear-shaped.

China Press reported that police had so far counted RM109 million, but two-thirds of the money seized from Bustari’s apartment has yet to be counted. Malaysia Decides understands the newly elected Pakatan Harapan ‎believe that the final amount could be RM300 million.

This is in addition to sizeable amounts of cash seized from a safe in the Prime Minister’s Office and his private residence.

The Mahathir administration expects Najib to be finished when he is charged soon over the transfer of RM42 million from SRC International Bhd into his personal accounts.‎

And if there is any lingering sympathy for him and his family over their sudden fall from grace after GE14, government officials are counting on that to dissipate once the mountain of cash is trotted out for the media.

‎Then, the focus will turn to Bustari and other key players who raised funds for Umno. Where did the money come from?

Who were the corporate figures who donated millions? Where was their source of wealth? Did Umno declare these hundreds of millions?

Were the donations in consideration for government contracts and sweetheart deals?

By the time these questions are answered, Umno will sink even further in the eyes of Malaysians, making it even more difficult for any Umno leader to rebuild the party.

Bustari’s ties with Najib date back to the 1980s when he was a colleague of Rosmah Mansor at a property development firm.

In the late 1980s, he became known as a supporter of former Sarawak chief minister Taib Mahmud.

But Bustari never craved the limelight. Even after he started becoming a key confidant of Najib, he stayed clear of any publicity.

In Umno circles, he was known as a Sarawak businessman and the brother of former works minister Fadillah Yusof.

Unknown to many was the fact that Bustari’s connections with Najib had made him a tycoon. His companies were major beneficiaries of marginal oil field contracts off Sarawak, a concession to run hospital services in Sarawak and the lucrative Pan Borneo Highway.

Authorities have retrieved CCTV tapes from Bustari’s apartment.

They hope these tapes will shed some light on who visited the apartment in the days before polling day and when the luggage and handbags were transported there. – May 23, 2018.