
Luxury yachts worth more than $200 million were handed over from Indonesian authorities to Malaysian authorities. It is believed to have been purchased by a Malaysian businessman with the funds of One Horse Company.



On June 27, the police economic crime investigation department showed reporters the property seized from several properties associated with Najib. (All data pictures)
After being accused of corruption twice in July and August, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib was charged with 25 charges in late September, including abuse of power and money laundering.
These charges are all related to the sovereign investment fund "One Malaysia Development Co., Ltd." ("One Malaysia Company") originally established under the leadership of Najib.
The media quoted the Malaysian police as saying that a total of $972 million was transferred and flowed into Najib’s personal bank account after a number of investigations in the "One Horse Case".
Branch becomes a "breakthrough point"
The National Front, a political party alliance led by Najib, lost to the opposition alliance led by 92-year-old political veteran Mahathir Muhammad in the Malaysian parliamentary election in May, ending its 61-year ruling. After Mahathir took office, the new Malaysian government set up a special working group to re-investigate the "one horse case".
On May 12, the Malaysian Immigration Bureau prohibited Najib and his wife from leaving the country. On July 3, Najib was arrested in a residence in the capital Kuala Lumpur and charged with corruption and breach of trust. Najib denied guilt and was released on bail. On August 8, the prosecution again accused Najib of three counts including money laundering.
The charges filed by the prosecution against Najib in July and August all involved SRC International, a former subsidiary of Yima Company.
"Yima Company" is a Malaysian national investment fund company, which was established under the leadership of Najib in 2009. It has a public nature and the source of funds is actually Malaysian taxpayers. This investment institution was exposed a few years ago that the whereabouts of funds were unknown, and many government officials, including Najib, were suspected of embezzling public funds.
The prosecution accused Najib of illegally obtaining tens of millions of dollars by using SRC International’s transactions.
SRC International was established in 2011 by the Najib government to manage overseas investment in the energy sector. In 2012, it was directly managed by the Malaysian Ministry of Finance.
The reason why the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission regards "SRC International Case" as the starting point for investigating "One Horse Case" is because the related illicit money was operated by domestic financial institutions in Malaysia, and the transfer information is easier to track, while most other illicit money was transferred through financial institutions in other countries.
The new charges point to key suspects.
On September 20th, Malaysian prosecutors filed 25 new charges against Najib, including 4 cases of abuse of power and 21 cases of money laundering.
Deputy police chief Nur Rashid Ibrahim said in a statement that the four allegations of abuse of power involved Najib’s use of his position as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Chairman of the "One Horse Company" Advisory Committee from 2011 to 2014 to seek about 556 million US dollars; Twenty-one money laundering charges include nine counts of illegally obtaining proceeds, five counts of misappropriating illegally obtained proceeds and seven counts of transferring illegally obtained proceeds to other entities.
According to Malaysian law, the establishment of each crime of abuse of power will make Najib face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 5 times the amount received; The establishment of each money laundering crime will make Najib face up to five years in prison.
The media quoted observers as saying that the latest judicial measures marked significant progress in the investigation of the "one horse case". The latest accusation points to the key suspicion of the "one horse case" and helps to restore the truth of the case.
As of September, Najib faced 32 allegations related to "One Horse Company".
Claiming innocence, defending the other side
At the beginning of its establishment, Yima Company promised to help Malaysia develop new industries and build Kuala Lumpur into an international financial center. However, it did not benefit from some transactions and investments it participated in, but owed huge debts and was difficult to repay.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that a reporter from this American newspaper saw a document showing that nearly $700 million was transferred from "One Horse Company" to Najib’s private account.
At the beginning of the scandal, Malaysia investigated it. Najib, then prime minister, denied his misconduct.
At the beginning of 2016, Ali, the then Attorney General of Malaysia appointed by Najib, said that the investigation results showed that the funds flowed into Najib’s personal bank account from March to April 2013, which originated from the "private gift" of the Saudi Arabian royal family and did not involve criminal offences or corruption. Moreover, in August 2013, due to a large amount of unused funds, Najib returned 620 million US dollars to the Saudi royal family. In April 2016, the Saudi Foreign Minister admitted that Saudi Arabia gave Najib $681 million, which was "really" a grant.
On September 10th this year, Najib made public relevant documents, proving that the huge sum in his personal bank account came from a gift from the Saudi royal family. He said that more details will be announced in the future. Najib believes that the trial in February next year will be his "best chance" to prove his innocence.
Najib is 64 years old and became prime minister in April 2009. He has resigned as the party chairman and the leader of the party alliance, taking responsibility for the election defeat.
Najib has always denied the prosecution’s allegations. His political camp issued a statement identifying the current Prime Minister Mahathir as "political revenge". However, Tommy Thomas, the current Attorney General of Malaysia, told the media that the case was not politically motivated and Najib would be given a fair trial.
Many properties have a large amount of property
On October 4, Malaysian prosecutors filed charges against Najib’s wife, Rosmah, on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.
According to the indictment, Rosmah was suspected of collecting nearly 7.1 million ringgit (about 1.7 million US dollars) from illegal activities from 2013 to 2017, which constituted the crime of money laundering and was charged with 12 counts. At the same time, Rosmah failed to declare these incomes, which constituted the crime of tax evasion and was charged with five charges.
According to previous media reports, Rosmah likes to go overseas for luxury shopping and is believed to have a large number of brand-name clothes and handbags. The finances seized by Malaysian police from several properties in Najib in May can confirm this to some extent.
Amar Singh, head of the police economic crime investigation department, said at the press conference at the end of June that in order to investigate the "one horse case", the police seized a large amount of cash and jewelry, watches, handbags and other items from six properties related to Najib in May, with an estimated value of about 224 million to 273 million US dollars.
According to Singh, the amount of property seized this time is unique in Malaysian history. More than 150 police officers and external experts formed eight teams, which took nearly a month to evaluate the market value of these properties.
Singh confirmed that the police seized a large amount of cash, including ringgit, US dollar, Singapore dollar and other 26 currencies, with a total value of US$ 29 million. Twenty-two employees of Malaysia’s Central Bank used six money counters, and it took three days to count the cash.
Jewelry accounts for the largest proportion of the seized property, with a total of 12,000 pieces, with a market value of 164 million to 219 million US dollars; 567 brand-name handbags seized, belonging to 37 brands; 423 watches were seized.
Najib’s political party "Malay National Unity Organization" declared in June that the cash seized by the police was the campaign donation received by this party.
Other countries investigate and return funds.
Mahathir said earlier that the new Malaysian government will seek to recover billions of dollars embezzled by One Horse Company to repay the accumulated government debts for many years.
According to the statement of the Prime Minister’s Office, the "One Horse Case" investigation team will strive for the cooperation of the judicial institutions of the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada.
On September 10th, a law firm represented by the Malaysian government in Singapore on the "One Horse Case" said that the Singapore court ruled that it agreed to return about 15.3 million Singapore dollars (about 10.21 million US dollars) involved in the "One Horse Case" investigation to Malaysia.
Singapore had previously seized about S $240 million (about US$ 160 million) in cash and assets involved in the "One Horse Case". The 15.3 million Singapore dollars were seized from Yima Company and SRC International, involving various currencies.
"The money will be transferred to the ‘ opened in Kuala Lumpur; Yima ’ Recovery fund, "the law firm said," Malaysia is still trying to recover other illegally occupied assets. "
Malaysia’s Finance Minister thanked Singapore and hoped that this was only the "beginning". "After all, the money recovered is just ‘ One horse case ’ The tip of the iceberg. "
Singapore participates in the investigation of "One Horse Case". In 2016, the authorities closed two new branches of Swiss banks involved in the "one horse case"; In May last year, monetary authority of singapore imposed fines on two banks involved in related transactions of "One Horse Company"; In May this year, Singapore and Malaysia reached a consensus to return the money involved to Malaysia.
In addition, Malaysia seeks to recover a plane worth about $35 million. The plane is believed to have been purchased by a Malaysian businessman with the funds of "One Horse Company" and is now in Singapore.
In August this year, Indonesia handed over a luxury yacht worth more than 200 million US dollars to Malaysia, which is believed to have been purchased by the same businessman with the funds of One Horse Company. (Special correspondent of this newspaper Lu Zhiyuan)