PETALING JAYA: Australian Federal Police (AFP) has seized AUD$320,000 (RM970,000) from an Australian bank account belonging to Malaysia's CID chief in a money laundering investigation, but Bukit Aman says that it has found no wrongdoing in the case.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim said Bukit Aman was made aware of the matter in 2016 when it was informed by AFP of the case against Comm Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd (pic).
"We did our own internal checks and discovered that the amount was obtained through a sale of a house in Shah Alam in 2016.
"Based on our own investigation, there was no wrongdoing or malice discovered," he said when contacted on Friday.
On the issue of Australian authorities freezing Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin's account, Noor Rashid said the AFP had jurisdiction over the matter.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin had been stripped of more than A$320,000 by the AFP, which suspected that his Sydney bank account held laundered money or proceeds from crime.
The Australian newspaper report said the Bukit Aman CID director had opened a Commonwealth Bank "Goal Saver" account in 2011, listing his address at Bankstown and then Glebe in Sydney.
One week after he concluded an Australian trip in 2016, the account received a flurry of cash deposits.
Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin has not tried to wrest the money back from authorities, saying court action was too expensive, but has denied any wrongdoing.
He also reportedly told Fairfax Media that he had given an explanation and his department had also written a letter to the AFP.
He added that he arranged for a close friend in Malaysia to transfer the money to pay for his daughter's master's degree.
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