Malaysia ex-PM Najib’s delegation spent nearly US$250,000 at Trump hotel amid 1MDB probe: report

During a 2017 visit to the US, Najib Razak and his delegation stayed at the Trump International Hotel for 10 nights and spent almost US$250,000

Najib stayed in the presidential suite, which cost US$10,000 a night, and other charges included hiring a ‘personal trainer’ and having a butler assist in serving meals

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(From left) US President Donald Trump and Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak at the West Wing of the White House in Washington on September 12, 2017. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 7:15pm, 5 Jan 2024

A newly released report from a US Democrat-led oversight committee includes evidence that former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and his delegation spent lavishly while staying at a Washington hotel owned by ex-US president Donald Trump in 2017, at the same time the US Department of Justice (DOJ) was seeking to recover US$1 billion in assets stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB.

The report from the Committee on Oversight and Accountability – released on Thursday and titled “White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump” – makes the case that, while Trump was in office, “he received at least US$7.8 million from 20 governments, including the governments of China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Malaysia, through his businesses”.

The report’s section on Malaysia details how in September 2017, then president Trump hosted Najib for an official state visit in the midst of the DOJ probe into the purloined funds from 1MDB, which was co-founded and managed by Najib.

Najib was eventually found guilty on seven corruption charges related to the 1MDB scandal and is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence.

The Trump International Hotel in Washington in March 2021. Photo: AP

According to the report, which is based on new documents produced by Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars USA, Najib and his delegation stayed at the Trump International Hotel in Washington for 10 nights and spent a grand total of US$248,962.

Based on the documents from Mazar detailed in the report, Najib stayed in the hotel’s presidential suite during his visit, for which the Malaysian government was billed US$10,000 per night. Other charges mentioned in the report include US$750 for “Furniture Movement (Dressing Room)” and a charge of US$1,500 for a “Personal Trainer”. It also says he “spent thousands of dollars to have a butler assist in serving multiple meals”.