US repatriates US$452 million of looted 1MDB money to Malaysia
- The stolen funds had been spent on luxury homes, a superyacht, art by Monet and Van Gogh and other ‘extravagant items’, says the US Justice Department
- The money was laundered through major financial institutions worldwide, including in the US, Singapore, Switzerland and Luxembourg
The department said the stolen money was “spent on a wide variety of extravagant items, including luxury homes and properties in Beverly Hills, New York and London; a 300-foot [91.44-metre] superyacht; and fine art by Monet and Van Gogh.”
Thursday‘s repatriation takes to US$1.2 billion the total so far in recovered assets sent back from the US to the Southeast Asian nation.
The department estimates around US$4.5 billion could have been stolen from the fund.
Najib was last year sentenced to 12 years in jail on related charges, though he remains a member of parliament and is free, pending appeal.
Malaysian court rejects Najib Razak’s bid to halt bankruptcy order
He is also facing four other related trials, though proceedings have slowed since last year due to the coronavirus pandemic and related restrictions.
The corruption allegations played a huge part in the shock election loss suffered by Najib's United Malays National Organisation (Umno) in 2018, ending what had been an uninterrupted run in government since Malaysian independence in 1957
