The money was seized along with 284 boxes containing designer handbags, as well as watches and jewellery from a condominium in Kuala Lumpur, which was raided along with Najib’s home and other sites last week.

Najib’s coalition was thrown out of power for the first time in over six decades in the May 9 poll, defeated by a reformist alliance headed by his former mentor Mahathir Mohamad.

Public disgust at allegations of corruption swirling around Najib was a major factor for the loss, with the ex-leader, his family and cronies accused of looting billions of dollars from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.

There has been much speculation about what the seized goods consisted of and their value after five trucks were reportedly brought in to help move the vast stash.

Giving an update, the police’s head of commercial crime Amar Singh said: “From the money found, there were 26 currencies, the total amount as of yesterday is 114 million (ringgit) ($28.6 million).”

The money was found in 35 bags while another 37 bags contained watches and jewellery, he told a press conference. The value of other items will be calculated later, he said.

The seizure of the luxury goods added to public scorn of Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor, long reviled by Malaysians for her perceived haughty demeanour and reported vast collection of designer bags, clothing and jewellery.

Her love of overseas shopping trips, as middle class Malaysians struggle with rising living costs, added to a sense of spreading, deeply-entrenched rot in the country’s long-ruling elite.

The couple’s fall from grace has been swift and hard.

They have been barred from leaving the country and the ex-premier has been questioned by anti-graft investigators over claims 1MDB money ended up in his bank accounts, and looks likely to be charged.

Najib and the fund deny any wrongdoing.

But Swiss whistleblower Xavier Andre Justo says he met Jho Low not once, but twice, to discuss matters bet­ween 1MDB and PetroSaudi Inter­national.

It has been already revealed that from an initial US$1bil (RM3.9bil) that was wired to PetroSaudi, US$700mil (RM) was sent to an account owned by a company called Good Star, which investigation papers showed was controlled by Jho Low.

Justo, in an exclusive interview with The Star at a hotel here, said: “I met him twice. I have told the Swiss authorities the details.”

Justo, who broke open the can of worms that would become Malay­sia’s biggest ever scandal, said he first suspected something was amiss when he realised that large sums of money were being transacted and that PetroSaudi was making enormous commissions.

“(PetroSaudi’s top officials) Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahony had access to the real numbers, but I knew something was wrong.

“There are commissions in the oil business. That’s the way it is and there is no need to be naive. Oil business means corruption.

“It is something to take 1% or 5%, but it is something else to take more than 80% of the amount in commission. I knew that something was wrong, but I wasn’t expecting this madness,” Justo said.

He added that he was shocked at how the scandal had grown.

From PetroSaudi, the scandal spread to other companies in the Middle East.

“It is unbelievable how greedy, how insane, how mad those people are. They really thought that whatever was in the central bank of Malaysia was theirs.

“‘So, we need a billion. Just open the safe. We need three more billion. Let’s issue a bond against some fake collateral. We need more. Let’s do that.’ They really thought that this Malaysian money was their own money,” he said.

Justo said he held the files from PetroSaudi that were given to him because he wanted money that was owed to him by the company.

Those files, when released, sparked an investigation into the largest corruption scandal in the world.

Justo said he gave the files to the owner of The Edge Communica­tions Tong Kooi Ong through Clare Rewcastle Brown after being convinced of their sincerity and motivation of wanting to reveal the 1MDB scandal.

“They explained to me how this 1MDB corruption machine was working.

“At the beginning, of course I said I wanted money. I could have sold these files for a lot of money. I just wanted the money owed to me by PetroSaudi.

“I just want all of them, starting from the first to the last, to be punished for their crimes.

“It’s not only about the money they stole. Yes, it’s very bad because this money was supposed to go to (things like) children’s education and healthcare instead of luxury bags, boats, jets and prostitutes. This is a financial crime.

“They also did worse than that. They killed people. They threatened people. They sent me to jail. They threatened my wife with arrest.

“They warned my wife that my son would end up in a Thai orphanage. They have to pay for that,” he said.

Justo said the only thing he knew about the Najib administration was that it was complicit in sending him to a Thai jail for three years.

“Mr Patrick Mahony, on the authorisation or the direction of people of your government, and with the collaboration of your government, went to see me inside the prison,” he said.

“I’ve never been convicted of anything. I was a banker and quite a successful one. I didn’t need this, but it happened, so if people think I am a bad guy, so be it.

“If people think I am a hero, I am not a hero. The real heroes are the people of Malaysia.”

Today, Justo says he is in a better place but the experience has changed his life.

“Everything is fine. Believe me, I was used to having a high standard of living. Now I just don’t care. I just want to be with my friends and family.

“Before, I only wanted to drink French wine. Now I don’t care if you give me the worst wine on earth.

“I need to be close to the people I love. I’m 52. I have an interesting life. I don’t care about material things anymore,” he added.

“The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable,” Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“We again state to the US our willingness to sit face-to-face at any time in any form to resolve the problem,” Kim added.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming “open hostility” from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any “foolish or reckless acts”.

In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a “trail of broken promises” by the North.

In his Friday statement, First Vice Foreign Minister Kim said the North Korean leader had been preparing for the summit to go ahead.

“Our Chairman (Kim Jong Un) had also said a meeting with President Trump would create a good beginning and had been putting effort into prepartions for it,” Kim said.

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had “completely” dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt.

On Thursday Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric by attacking US Vice President Mike Pence as “ignorant and stupid”.

That broadside appeared to hit a nerve with Trump, leading to him abruptly pulling out of the talks.

“Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” read Trump’s letter to Kim, which was dictated word-for-word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.

Dear Mr Chairman:

We greatly appreciate your time, patience and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place on June 12 in Singapore. We were informed that the meeting was requested by North Korea, but that to us is totally irrelevant. I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting. Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place. You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.

I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters. Some day, I look very much forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I want to thank you for the release of the hostages who are now home with their families. That was a beautiful gesture and was very much appreciated.

If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write. The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.

Sincerely yours,

Donald J. Trump

President of the United States of America

Trump and Kim had been due to hold high-stakes talks on June 12 aimed at ridding the reclusive state of nuclear weapons, but the meeting was recently thrown into doubt as both sides raised the prospect of scrapping the discussions and traded threats.

Trump’s letter came a day after North Korea attacked US Vice President Mike Pence as “ignorant and stupid.”

“Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” Trump wrote in a letter to Kim released by the White House.

“Therefore, please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.”

Trump also brandished the threat of America’s nuclear might in his letter, writing: “You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.”

The US leader’s letter appeared to leave the door open to a future meeting with Kim, however, stressing that he had been “very much looking forward to being there.”

“We greatly appreciate your time, patience, and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions” relative to the summit, he told Kim.

“I felt a wonderful dialogue was building up between you and me, and ultimately, it is only that dialogue that matters,” Trump said. “If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.

“The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history.”

The decision came as North Korea said it had “completely” dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed by the isolated regime as a goodwill gesture ahead of the Singapore summit.

    Pyongyang announced its plan to “completely” dismantle the Punggye-ri facility in the country’s northeast, inviting some foreign journalists to witness the destruction.//AFP

Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto was arrested in December 2014 while in transit at Kuala Lumpur airport with 1.1 kilos (2.4 pounds) of crystal methamphetamine stitched into the compartment of a backpack she was carrying.

The 54-year-old was cleared in December of trafficking after a High Court judge ruled she did not know she was transporting the drugs.

But prosecutors challenged the decision and an appeals court overturned the acquittal Thursday, and found her guilty, her lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told AFP.

Anyone caught with at least 50 grams (1.75 ounces) of crystal meth is considered a trafficker in Muslim-majority Malaysia, and death by hanging is mandatory in the case of a conviction.

Shafee slammed the ruling as “perverse” and said Exposto would make a final appeal to the country’s top court.

“I thought there was an overwhelming case for the defence. I am shocked with the decision,” he said.

The mother of four argued she did not know about the hidden stash of “ice”. She said she had been fooled into carrying the bag after travelling to China to see someone she met online called “Captain Daniel Smith”, who had claimed to be a US serviceman.

After engaging in a long online romance, Exposto had travelled to Shanghai to see “Smith”.

But she did not succeed in meeting her supposed love interest while there and ended up being given a bag by a stranger, who asked her to take it to Melbourne.

When she arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport to change flights, she mistakenly went through immigration as she was unfamiliar with the airport.

She voluntarily offered her bags for customs inspection and the drugs were discovered.

There are at least 900 people on death row in Malaysia, officials have said, but executions have been rare in recent years.

Malaysian lawmakers have voted to amend legislation so that capital punishment is no longer mandatory in drug-trafficking cases.

But the changes have not yet come into force as they must be passed by the upper house.

Two Australians were hanged in Malaysia in 1986 for heroin trafficking — the first Westerners to be executed in the country — in a case that strained relations.

In 2013 Dominic Bird, a former truck driver from Perth, was acquitted of drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught with 167 grams of crystal methamphetamine.

“Ash exposure on the temple is thin, near the stupa. It’s evenly [covering] the entire surface of the temple,” Hari Setyawan, a staff member at the Borobudur Conservation Association told tempo.co.

The conservation team continues to observe the situation to anticipate any follow up eruption. The team is assessing the volcanic ash, with samples being analyzed at the conservation’s laboratory.

Additionally, the team has also prepared a cover for the stupa and floors of the temple. “We are following disaster response procedures and continue to monitor Merapi’s condition,” Hari said.

Mt Merapi erupted again at 2:56 a.m. on Thursday for four minutes. The eruption resulted in volcanic ash spewing at a height of 6,000 meters heading westward and could be heard from the Mt. Merapi observation post in Srumbung district, Magelang regency. The regency is also partially covered in ash following the eruption.

According to the Magelang Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), other areas affected include Tegalrandu village, Sumber, Dukun, Ngadipuro, Banyubiru, Muntilan, Menayu, Kalibening, Salaman, Tempuran, Sedayu, Sawangan and Mungkid.

Magelang BPBD head Edy Susanto has urged residents to remain calm and stay alert. “Use masks and glasses when outdoors,” he said.

The airport’s CCTV footage showed the bags had been stolen by a man wearing shorts and a striped long-sleeve T-shirt.

The alleged thief stood by the conveyor belt area at 6:30 p.m.,  30 minutes before the passengers, who flew in from Bali, arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 7 p.m.

Soekarno-Hatta branch communication and legal senior manager Erwin Revianto has apologized for the incident.

“We apologize for the inconvenience caused by our service,” Erwin said as quoted by tempo.co on Thursday.

He added that AP II had met with Garuda Indonesia and its ground handling subsidiary, PT Gapura Angkasa, to discuss this matter. Gapura Angkasa will compensate the victim.

The AP II will also evaluate the monitoring system in the baggage claim area. The airport has 1,900 CCTV cameras monitoring activities inside and outside the airport.

Erwin, however, said the AP II now realized that some spots were not covered by CCTV cameras. The operator would immediately handle the problem, he added.

Trump is due to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12 for high stakes talks aimed at ridding the reclusive state of its newly acquired nuclear weapons and improving ties after decades of animosity.

The summit announcement came after months of unusually cordial diplomacy between the historic foes brokered by South Korea.

But the newfound bonhomie and the meeting’s potential success has been thrown into doubt in recent days with both Washington and Pyongyang raising the prospect of cancelling the talks and trading threats.

The latest broadside from North Korea came Thursday with vice-minister of Foreign Affairs Choe Son Hui lambasting a Monday media interview in which Pence warned Kim Jong Un that it would be a “great mistake” to try and play Trump.

Pence also said North Korea could end up like Libya, whose former leader Moamer Khadafi was killed by US-backed rebels years after giving up atomic weapons, “if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal”.

“I cannot suppress my surprise at such ignorant and stupid remarks gushing out from the mouth of the US vice-president,” Choe said in a statement released by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“We will neither beg the US for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,” she said, adding she would recommend Kim cancel the talks if Washington continues to make such threats.

Similar comments comparing North Korea to Libya from Trump’s hawkish National Security Advisor John Bolton caused the first threat by Pyongyang last week to cancel the Singapore meeting.

“Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States,” she added.

– Aides head to Singapore –

Politically, Trump has invested heavily in the success of the planned summit, and so privately most US officials, as well as outside observers, believe it will go ahead.

Hand-picked aides — including deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel — are traveling to the Southeast Asian city state designated to host the summit, officials said.

They are expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.

But Trump has also become increasingly lukewarm about meeting Kim, teasing his commitment to talks as keenly as any of his “The Apprentice” season finales.

“On Singapore we’ll see. It could very well happen,” he said Wednesday, adding cryptically: “Whatever it is, we’ll know next week.”

Trump enthusiastically embraced the idea of talks earlier this year — the first ever meeting between a US president and a leader of North Korea.

But as the date draws nearer, the yawning gulf in expectations between the two sides is coming into sharp relief.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation” of the North.

But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

Some analysts have suggested both sides still want to meet in Singapore but are playing hardball in the run up to the summit to leverage a better negotiation position.

PR battle

Ostensibly the Trump-Kim talks will be about peace on the Korean peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic weapons.

But even before talk of test freezes, decommissioning or inspections, Washington and Pyongyang are engaged in a public relations battle.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who has met personally with Kim — said whether the summit goes ahead is now up to North Korea.

“That decision will ultimately be up to Chairman Kim,” he told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. “He asked for the meeting, the president agreed to meet with him. I’m very hopeful that that meeting will take place.”

His remarks reflect an effort to perhaps lay the groundwork for blame should the talks fail.

As part of its own charm offensive, North Korea invited some foreign journalists to witness the slated destruction of the isolated regime’s nuclear test site.

The gesture, which experts agree would do little to curb North Korea’s long-term nuclear capabilities, is meant to signal that the regime is serious about change.

Pyongyang said it planned to “completely” destroy the Punggye-ri facility in the country’s northeast when it made the surprise announcement earlier this month.

The demolition is due to take place sometime between Thursday and Friday, depending on the weather.