IGP: Wrong to assume cash in CID chief's account obtained through questionable means

Fuzi: There is a possibility that this (the breach) occurred after several staff from a company tasked with transferring the data took advantage of the situation.

KUALA LUMPUR: It is wrong to assume that the A$320,000 (RM970,000) found in Comm Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Najmuddin Mohd's Australian bank account was obtained through questionable means, says Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun (pic).

The Inspector-General of Police said Bukit Aman was made aware of the matter in 2016 and an inquiry was conducted immediately.

"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 masters degree course in Australia as well," he said in a statement on Friday (March 2).

Mohamad Fuzi said the Bukit Aman CID director was able to provide documents to prove the funds originated from the sale of his house in Shah Alam, which then was worth RM700,000.

"The fund was then entrusted to a very close friend to make the transfer to the bank account in Australia," he said.

The IGP said Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin had provide all necessary and relevant documents to prove the source of the funds.

"He has also provided justification for having an overseas bank account, which is to fund his children's study in Australia," he said.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Comm Wan Ahmad Najmuddin had been stripped of more than A$320,000 by the Australian Federal Police (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.