(June 21): Former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has denied saying that the 1MDB board was to be blamed for the company's woes.

In a reply to an interview with him by Reuters which was widely reported, a spokesman for Najib said in a statement to Malaysiakini: "He did not at any time during the interview say that the 1MDB board was to be blamed for what had happened.

"Najib will make a further clarification on this at the appropriate time."

During the interview, Reuters had quoted him as saying on whether he blamed the 1MDB board for the fund's troubles: "No. I am saying as a general principle, if they are in the know that something is not right, then it is incumbent upon them to tell me... It is the fiduciary duty of the board and the management to do the right thing. I expect them to do the right (thing) and to follow the law."

He said he had never instructed Jho Low to get involved in 1MDB, and had no control over what he did.

“I didn’t give him instructions, but he volunteered to do certain things, which he thought would help 1MDB. But whatever he did ultimately is the responsibility of the management and board.”

On whether he benefited from 1MDB, Najib said: "I didn't benefit from 1MDB, because I believe that the 1MDB was created to do something good for the country.

"If I knew there was going to be misappropriation of funds, if that was my knowledge, I would have acted."