Thursday 28 Mar 2024
By
main news image

KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has challenged Datuk Seri Najib Razak to reveal his bank accounts after the prime minister denied The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) claim that some US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) has ended up in his personal bank accounts since March 2013.

The prime minister has denied using government-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd’s money for “personal gain” and has sent a legal letter to the US business daily for its report last Friday.

“You say you deny, let’s see the accounts,” Dr Mahathir told British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) TV in an interview aired yesterday.

Dr Mahathir’s remarks are the first he made on the WSJ revelations last Friday, although he has written extensively about Najib’s lavish lifestyle and has asked the tax authorities to investigate his wealth.

The WSJ reported that US$11.1 million from SRC International had moved through other government-linked companies before it was deposited in two of Najib's personal accounts at AmBank in Kuala Lumpur between December 2014 and February this year.

A larger transfer of US$681 million was made to Najib’s accounts in two transactions in March 2013, ahead of the general election in May that year. That sum came from a company in the British Virgin Islands.

Dr Mahathir told the BBC that it was “easy” for Najib to prove his innocence.

“He has these bank accounts, all he has to do is say, ‘you examine my accounts, you look at them’.

“Why doesn’t he answer the charges made against him? When people charge him about something, he says it’s nonsense and not true,” the former prime minister said.

Dr Mahathir has called for Najib's resignation, putting the prime minister under pressure and dividing his party, Umno, over his leadership.

Najib loyalists said the investigations into 1MDB should be completed first, while the government’s propaganda unit, the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), said the WSJ’s allegations were part of an international plot to attack Malaysia’s leadership. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on July 9, 2015.

      Print
      Text Size
      Share