KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian taxpayers had unwittingly dished out US$248,962 (RM1.157 million) to the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, during two separate visits by then prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and senior embassy officials in September 2017.
In a lengthy report produced by the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Najib and his delegation had racked up a “direct bill” of US$247,352 during his stay at the Trump owned hotel from September 7 to 15 in 2017.
Najib was visiting for a much-publicised meeting with then US President Donald Trump at the White House on September 12. This was amid mounting pressure and intense scrutiny over his supposed role in the multi-billion dollar 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal.
His presidential suite was billed at US$10,000 per night, totalling US$44,562 (plus taxes) over three nights and four days.
The former prime minister also spent US$750 on “furniture movement (dressing room)”, US$1,500 for a personal trainer, butler service during meals and in-room dining.
“The Malaysian delegation’s lavish spending in mid-September 2017 at the Trump International Hotel caused a 70% jump in the hotel’s average nightly room revenue – increasing to US$97,193 for the nights of September 7 through 14 compared to US$56,635 for other nights in September 2017.
“Later, on September 27, the ‘Embassy of Malaysia Delegation’ would return to the hotel and rent an additional four rooms at a cost of US$1,610.527,” read the report.
The Malaysian delegation’s mid-September stay was billed US$9,272 that was spent by the US Secret Service on rooms for the detail assigned to protect the delegation. The Secret Service’s room block included multiple rooms that were booked at US$650 per night, more than double the government’s US$231 per diem lodging rate for Washington DC.
Najib had been the first prime minister to visit the White House since 2004.
By the time the two met, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had been investigating the 1MDB scandal for more than a year. The pair avoided any mention of the then-pending DOJ investigation during their press conferences.
The DOJ alleged that Najib and others associated with the fund had illegally siphoned off more than US$3.5 billion from 1MDB not long after it was created in 2009, shortly after he took office.
It would later be found that more than US$4.5 billion had been stolen from 1MDB, which was laundered through shell companies and financial institutions worldwide, many of which were in the US.
Meanwhile, the oversight committee report mentioned that Malaysia paid for then Trump top fundraiser Elliott Broidy and his associate, Nickie Lum Davis, to stay at the Trump International Hotel for four nights.
“In total, Broidy was charged US$5,345 for rooms at the Trump International Hotel during September 2017.
“Davis, who was working with him on behalf of Malaysia, also stayed at the hotel during part of the Malaysian delegation’s mid-September stay and was charged US$1,155 for her stay,” according to the report.
The DOJ later announced that Broidy’s guilty plea detailed his efforts to persuade the Trump administration to end its 1MDB investigation.
Broidy had, among others, “provided talking points to the Secretary of State referencing the 1MDB investigation in advance of a meeting between the Secretary of State and the Malaysian prime minister in August 2017”.
The DOJ added that Broidy had “pushed the White House chief of staff for a golf game between the president and the Malaysian prime minister to allow the Malaysian prime minister to raise a resolution of the 1MDB investigation”.
Of the US$9 million Broidy was paid for his role in the scheme, he paid some US$2.4 million to Lum Davis.
In August 2020, Lum Davis pled guilty for her role in facilitating the unregistered lobbying campaign to end the 1MDB investigation.
As of August 2021, the DOJ had repatriated more than US$1.2 billion to the Malaysian people.
Najib is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Kajang Prison for his conviction on criminal charges related to 1MDB.
The committee report established that while Trump was in office, he received at least US$7.8 million from 20 governments, including China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Malaysia, through his businesses.
Based on records for just two years of his presidency, involving four of his more than 500 businesses, was likely a small fraction of the payments Trump received. This is considered in violation of the US Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause. – January 5, 2024