(July 3): Election watchdog Bersih 2.0 wants Datuk Seri Najib Razak to be investigated after The Wall Street Journal reported today that billions of ringgit were channelled to his personal bank accounts.

Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah said the prime minister should be investigated on whether he spent any of the people's money to sustain Umno or to finance his party's campaign during the 13th general election.

She also wanted Najib to come out and personally answer the allegations made in the WSJ on the flow of money to his accounts.

"We would like to emphasise that the financing of election campaigns should not involve the people’s money as it creates an uneven level playing field as the ruling coalition would obviously be heavily advantaged as compared with the opposition.

"We hereby demand an answer together with an explanation from the Prime Minister," Maria said in a statement today.

She added that if any element of corruption was found, the attorney-general must uphold the rule of law and charge the prime minister.

The WSJ and Sarawak Report reported today that investigations into the debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had allegedly uncovered billions of ringgit pumped into Najib's personal accounts.

The documents showed that US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) was moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB and finally ending up in the prime minister's personal accounts in five separate deposits, the WSJ said.

Both quoted from documents from the 1MDB probe carried out by Putrajaya, with Sarawak Report claiming that the Attorney-General was also aware of the information.

Maria said although 1MDB was a private company, it was founded by taxpayers’ money and urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to immediately investigate Najib, who is also the chairman of the 1MDB advisory board. – The Malaysian Insider