Report: Cops find Jho Low connection to jewels at Najib-linked units

Police have reportedly established a connection between fugitive businessperson Jho Low and the jewellery seized from apartments linked to former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

According to The Edge, this was revealed after investigators traced back to 1MDB hundreds of millions of dollars that went into four company accounts in Singapore.

The companies allegedly spent US$247.59 million (RM1.03 billion) of the 1MDB-linked funds to purchase jewellery from 30 jewellers around the world and many of the items were found at the Pavilion Residences units that were raided last year in Kuala Lumpur.

The companies, Blackstone Real Estate Partners, Blackrock Commodities, Alsen Chance Holdings and Brightstone Jewellery, are owned by Low's right-hand man, Eric Tan Kim Loong.

Previously, Singapore authorities had uncovered that Low had used Tan's name as a proxy to open corporate bank accounts, including the Tanore account linked to Najib's RM2.6 billion case.

The US Department of Justice, meanwhile, had traced funds in the Blackstone and Alsen Chance accounts to 1MDB monies raised in the Aabar-BVI phase.

Najib's stepson Riza Aziz is alleged to have used US$1.2 million from the Alsen Chance account to purchase a rare movie poster.

Last June, police raided several apartment units linked to Najib during which they seized almost 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 401 watches and cash in various currencies.

Also seized were 567 handbags from 37 different brands which required special care by the police for storage.

The Edge reported that 212 of the handbags were made by Hermes and valued at RM47 million.

It was also reported that most of the luxury goods police seized were recovered from an apartment owned by Obyu Holdings Bhd.

Obyu Holdings is owned by Bustari Yusof, the brother of former BN works minister Fadillah Yusof. Bustari is a close confidante of Najib.

The government has filed a forfeiture notice for these items.