KUALA LUMPUR (July 9): The Auditor-General's Department has no power to probe into the personal bank accounts of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

"Now that there is already an investigation by the special taskforce, they are better equipped to do that," Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang told reporters at the Parliament building today.

"They (special taskforce) have the power to look into people's accounts," he said.

He added that unlike the special taskforce that has Bank Negara Malaysia on its team, the Auditor-General alone does not have such power to do so.

"I do not have the power to look into people's accounts," said Ambrin, when asked if he would investigate the latest revelation by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that involved Najib.

To recap, a special task force was formed to probe allegations that millions of dollars were channelled into Najib's bank accounts.

The task force comprises investigators from the Attorney-General's (AG) Chambers, Bank Negara, the Royal Malaysian Police Force and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Auditor-General's Department had earlier today handed over the much publicised interim audit report on troubled 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The document is not likely to be made public.

Last Thursday, WSJ alleged that up to US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) was transferred from 1MDB into Najib's personal accounts with AmPrivate Bank, just before the 13th general election (GE13).

Najib, however, responded that he had never taken any funds from 1MDB for personal gain and pinned the blame for the latest reports on former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has in recent months called for Najib's resignation.

The documents, which WSJ had said was sourced from a "Malaysian government investigation,” included a remittance application form, a cash deposit authorisation letter and charts outlining the flow of money.

In those forms, details of payment were listed as fund transfers for “CSR programmes”.

WSJ's reports had centred on some US$700 million funnelled into two of Najib's accounts at AmBank in Kuala Lumpur. The money was transferred in five separate deposits from two originating points — one locally, beginning with SRC International Sdn Bhd, and the other from a British Virgin Islands company.

According to WSJ, the largest portion of the money — US$681 million — was transferred to Najib's accounts in March 2013, ahead of GE13.