Bukit Aman says nothing fishy about senior cop’s closed to RM1 million frozen in Australia.
- Police say no wrongdoing found
- Aussie bank account to fund children’s study
- Money from sale of house
- Cop not attempting to get seized money back, citing expensive court action
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed questioned the action by Australian authorities for using the media to reveal the case of a frozen bank account belonging to Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd, recently.
He said the authorities should have taken action against him right away if it was proven that he was involved in money laundering activities as claimed in the media report.
However, Nur Jazlan said the failure of the Australian authorities to do so had raised questions on whether they ‘have an axe to grind’ in the case.
“I have no idea as to why the Australian government have done so (revelation via media). If this is a crime, involving money laundering, have action taken (against the CID director).
“However, that’s not the case. They only used the media to embarrass Malaysia,” he told a press conference yesterday.
Nur Jazlan said the authorities seemed to create a perception that a criminal offence, in the form of money laundering, was committed when, in fact, there was no prosecution.
He was commenting on a report by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) that Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized AUDUS$320,000 (RM972,000) in the bank account of Najmuddin after the money was suspected to be proceeds from money laundering activities.
The report said Najmuddin opened a Commonwealth Bank ‘Goal Saver’ account in 2011, listing his address at Bankstown and then Glebe in Sydney.
One week after he ended an Australian trip in 2016, the account received a flurry of suspicious cash deposits below A$10,000.
“Unknown depositors visited branches and ATMs around the country, from Biloela in country Queensland to Devonport in northern Tasmania to Lakemba in Sydney’s west and Melbourne’s CBD,” the report said.
Reportedly, Najmuddin’s account balance quickly grew by nearly A$290,000, to A$320,000 (RM972,000) in a month.
The CID director has not tried to get the money back from authorities, saying court action was too expensive but has denied any wrongdoing.
He also reportedly told Fairfax Media that he has given an explanation, and his department has written a letter to AFP.
In a statement yesterday, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun said it is false to assume that the A$320,000 (RM970,000) found in Najmuddin’s Australian bank account was obtained through questionable means, stressing that the deposits were from a legitimate source.
The IGP said Bukit Aman was made aware of the account in 2016, and its Integrity and Standard Compliance Department immediately conducted an internal inquiry.
“Investigations revealed that the account was initially opened by Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin in 2011 to facilitate the transfer of funds to finance his son’s education in Australia.
“Subsequently the same account was reactivated in 2016 to plan for his daughter’s Master’s degree course in Australia as well,” he said.
Najmuddin was able to provide documents to prove the funds were from the sale of his house in Shah Alam, which was then worth RM700,000, added Fuzi.
He said that the funds were then entrusted to a very close friend to make the transfer to the bank account in Australia.
According to the SMH report, Najmuddin was a frequent traveller to Australia.
Since 2001, he has visited nine times, always on a tourist visa, often for less than a week and, sometimes, with lots of cash. Across three trips in 2011 and 2012, he declared $112,000 to Australian customs.
For several years, the account lay dormant.
Then, six days after Najmuddin’s final trip in September 2016, cash deposits from five different states began pouring in.
Analysing the constellation of transactions – 54 of which fell below the reporting threshold – the Commonwealth Bank and the financial crime tracker AUSTRAC became alarmed.
“There does not appear to be any apparent lawful reason for the form and manner of the deposits,” an AFP officer from the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce wrote in an affidavit.
Unknown to Najmuddin, his friend transferred the money without compliance to Australian laws, the integrity officer wrote.
“The whole episode was an oversight. No malice was intended to break any laws including Australia’s.”
Previously the Johor police chief, Najmuddin was appointed to head the CID in August last year.