Malaysia CID chief in Australia money laundering probe got funds from 'legitimate source': Malaysian police

Australian police may have seized AUD$320,000 (US$248,000) from an Australian bank account belonging to Malaysia's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) director Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd, but Malaysian authorities found no wrongdoing on his part.

The money was from a legitimate source, said Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun in a statement on Friday (Mar 2).

The funds came from the sale of his house in Shah Alam, which was worth AUD260,770, and the CID director was able to provide documents to prove that, added the police chief.

"Thus, it is baseless to assume that the source of the money was from questionable origins or that Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd was involved in any form of indictable offences," said the statement.

The police chief was responding to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald published on Friday, titled "Malaysian top cop has $320K seized by Australian Federal Police, doesn’t want it back".

The report named Wan Ahmad Najmuddin as the owner of a bank account in Commonwealth Bank, Australia with a high amount of structured deposits, adding that the account is suspected of holding laundered money or proceeds of crime.

In his statement, Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police said its own investigations started when they were made aware of the account in 2016. The probe revealed that the account was opened in 2011 to facilitate the transfer of funds to finance his son's education in Australia.

“Subsequently, in 2016, the same account was then reactivated to plan for his daughter's master’s degree course in Australia, as well,” he added.

Following the sale of his house, the money was then entrusted to "a very close friend" to make the cash transfer to the bank account in Australia.

"He has also provided justification for the need to acquire an overseas account for the sole purpose of funding his children's education in Australia," said Malaysia's police chief.

Source: Channel News Asia – Bernama/gs