Former Prime Minister Najib Razak said he bought a $ 112,000 Chanel watch to "redeem" his wife for shortening family holidays.

Najib, 65, yesterday went to court in Kuala Lumpur during a corruption trial of 1MDB state fund, a billion-dollar financial scandal in Malaysia.

In court, the former Malaysian prime minister said he bought the Chanel watch worth 446,330 RM ($ 112,000) on December 22, 2014 in Hawaii, before rushing to cut his family's two-week vacation to return to Malaysia. , dealing with the severe flood situation in Kelatan at that time. The watch was given to Rosmah Mansor, Najib's wife and her own choice.

Najib said normally he will spend the entire 10-day to 2-week vacation on his family. "My family was very sad because I had to say goodbye to everyone immediately to return to Malaysia even though we were having a year-end holiday and birthday for my wife, who was born on December 10. So I decided. buy something of her choice, "Najib said.

At the trial on December 9, Najib also explained another transaction at a jewelry store in Sardinia, Italy. The Malay Mail reported that he bought a gift of RM 3,282,734 (more than USD 788,000) on August 8, 2014 to give to the wife of the Prime Minister of Qatar.

The former Malaysian prime minister explained to the court that the gift was to "reciprocate" the Prime Minister of Qatar, who had given the Najib couple on his previous visits to Malaysia.

Malaysian media quoted Najib as saying that he bought jewels with his personal account because he did not want to use wages, and believed that the gift would benefit the country in order to maintain good relations with the leaders. foreign.

Najib is facing dozens of criminal charges, including serious irresponsibility, abuse of position for bribery and money laundering involving RM 42 million (over USD 10 million) from SRC. International, the former branch of 1MDB. 1MDB is a fund he co-founded in 2009. The Supreme Court of Malaysia on 11/11 asked Najib to defend himself.