Malaysiakini
30th March 2016
Was one of the Saudi princes who allegedly put millions of US dollars into Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts the former Madinah governor or a convicted murderer?
Such could be the question for some viewers of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report on a letter purportedly from a Saudi royalty, telling Najib “to do as he pleases” with the generous donation the said prince supposedly donated, no strings attached, into the prime minister’s private bank accounts.
This is because the letterhead of that purported letter states that the missive is from the private office of “Saud Abdulaziz Majid al Saud” while the letter itself is supposedly signed by “HRH Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud”.
It should be noted that Prince Abdulaziz Majid is the grandson of the late King Abdulaziz – the first monarch of the House of Saud. He was the governor of the holy city of Madinah at the time the letter was dated, which is Nov 1, 2011.
Prince Abdulaziz Majid’s father is Prince Majid Abdulaziz, the son of King Abdulaziz.
However, confusion may arise if someone were to search for “Prince Saud Abdulaziz Al-Saud” or Prince Abdulaziz, as there is another Saudi prince of the same name who is a convicted murderer, and was serving a life sentence in the UK for the murder of his manservant at the time the letter was issued.
This prince, the one convicted of murder, is Prince Saud Abdulaziz Nasir Al-Saud, who has since been reportedly repatriated to the Middle Eastern kingdom to serve his sentence.
Of the two princely names, the difference is slight, but for their father’s names, they are almost the same.
Najib’s purportedly generous donor prince, as the letter in the ABC report supposedly shows, is Prince Abdulaziz Majid, who is Abdulaziz son of Majid.
While the Saudi prince who is a convicted killer serving a life sentence is Prince Abdulaziz Nasir, or Abdulaziz, the son of Nasir.
Several purported depositors
In any case, if what was reported by the ABC is true, Prince Abdulaziz Majid would be the second Saudi prince to have allegedly donated to Najib.
According to the ABC report, Prince Abdulaziz Majid allegedly made three deposits into Najib’s accounts in 2012, totalling US$120 million.
The other prince supposed to have donated to Najib, according to the report, is Prince Turki Faisal Al-Saud, who allegedly donated US$50 million in 2012 and US$700 million in 2013.
Other purported depositors into the PM’s accounts, as listed by the same report, include the Saudi Finance Ministry and SRC International chief executive and former 1MDB investment director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.
Najib has admitted to receiving donations into his private accounts but has denied misappropriation of public funds, counter-claiming that such allegations are slander meant to cause his downfall.
Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has decided not to prosecute Najib on the matter, stating that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigation papers into the RM2.6 billion and SRC monies did not show any culpability on the PM’s part.
Apandi went on to remind one and all that the power to prosecute or not is the sole constitutional prerogative of his office.