UMNO, a property developer and two companies were among the recipients of illegal proceeds from Najib Razak, who was charged under anti-money laundering laws today.

According to the charges filed at the sessions court, the former prime minister is accused of distributing RM22.649 million to five recipients on August 2-14, 2013.

According to the charge sheets, the biggest beneficiary was Najib’s party, Umno, which received a cheque for RM20 million on August 2, 2013. The money was transferred from his personal account at AmIslamic Bank.

He also transferred RM100,000 to Umno Batu Kawan on August 7, 2013 from the same account.

The two companies named in the charges were Semarak Konsortium Satu Sdn Bhd which received a cheque for RM303,000 on August 14, 2013, and ORB Solutions Sdn Bhd which received a cheque for RM2 million on August 12, 2013.

According to whistle-blower site Sarawak Report, Semarak Konsortium is controlled by Omar Mustapha, “a key provider of speeches for Najib through his company Ethos Consulting”.

Sarawak Report also cited ORB Solutions as a company which “developed an app detailing ‘news and achievements’ by Najib Razak”.

The final recipient was property developer Lim Soon Peng, who received a cheque from Najib for RM246,000 on August 7, 2013.

Lim runs Titijaya Land Berhad which boasts a number of residential developments.

Najib today was slapped with four counts of corruption under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act and another 21 charges under the anti-money laundering laws.

The four charges were in relation to two transfers amounting to US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) channelled into Najib’s personal bank account in March 2013.

Following the four charges, Najib was slapped with nine counts of receiving illegal proceeds, seven counts of transferring the proceeds to other entities and five counts of using illegal proceeds.

The Pekan MP is accused of receiving nine transfers amounting to RM2.081 billion transferred into his accounts between March 22 and April 10, 2013 from Tanore Finance Corp, a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands.  

He is also accused of using RM2.219 billion, through money-laundering activities, via 12 transfers between August 2 and 30, 2013.  

Najib claimed trial to the charges, with bail set at RM3.5 million.

He is already facing seven other charges for criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering linked to RM42 million from a former 1MDB subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd. – September 20, 2018.