Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh said police were still in the midst of identifying, recording, authenticating and evaluating the item seized from apartments in Pavilion Residences.
Amar was responding to a report by China Press headlined “Counting completed, 433 valuable watches worth RM80 million, King of Watches worth RM3.5 million”, published a few days ago.
KUALA LUMPUR: Federal police have refuted claims that the counting and evaluation process for the items seized in connection with investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) has been completed.
Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh Ishar Singh said police were still in the midst of identifying, recording, authenticating and evaluating the item seized from apartments in Pavilion Residences.
These, he said in a statement, included watches jewellery and other valuables confiscated on May 17.
Amar was responding to a report by China Press headlined “Counting completed, 433 valuable watches worth RM80 million, King of Watches worth RM3.5 million”, published a few days ago.
“Hence, the China Press report that the process of evaluation of watches and jewellery is completely premature as we have yet to finish with the authentication and evaluation process.
“I would like to advise the press and the public to be patient in this matter. An official press conference will be conducted by us to announce the actual value of the watches and jewellery once the authentication and evaluation process is completed.”
China Press had reported that the evaluation of the vast majority of 433 watches had been completed and was found to total RM80 million.
Quoting sources, the paper had claimed the watches were found in 37 bags seized from Pavilion Residences, with the most expensive being a Rolex worth RM3.5 million, followed by a Cecil Purnell priced at RM1.2 million.
It had reported, among the other brands seized were Patek Philippe and Richard Mille designer watches.
It also claimed that the 37 bags which had contained the watches, gold bars and designer jewellery were currently at the final stage of evaluation since there are a few rare collections which need more expertise to check.
The newspaper, quoting a source, said experts took five days, starting May 30, to complete evaluating all the designer and branded watches.
The evaluation began a few days after police and Bank Negara Malaysia officers had finished counting all the cash seized from the apartment, said to belong to a Tan Sri linked to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The cash, in various currencies, totaled RM114 million and took several days to count.
Police in total seized 72 bags and 284 boxes containing luxury handbags in search operations conducted at 12 premises linked to Najib since the night of May 16.
Among the 12 premises searched were Najib’s house in Jalan Langgak Duta, three apartments in Pavilion Residences, the prime minister’s office in the Prime Minister’s Department and Seri Perdana, the official prime minister’s residence in Putrajaya.
Source: NST Online
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