(July 24): The prime minister should be advised to say a simple "yes" or "no" to claims in The Wall Street Journal that nearly US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was channelled into his personal bank accounts, DAP said, urging Barisan Nasional strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan to do so.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said that Rahman must be "courageous enough" to tell Datuk Seri Najib Razak that statement denying any taking of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) funds "for personal gain" was insufficient.

"(It) only means Najib’s implicit admission about the RM2.6 billion in his personal accounts and that they were not used for his personal gain but for GE13 campaigning," Lim said in a statement, referring to the 13th general election held in May 2013.

"Rahman should advise Najib that his reputation as ‘Father of Transformation’ in Malaysia will be irreparably damaged if he continues to keep dumb on the WSJ report."

"He should advise the prime minister not only of the enormous cost to his image and reputation, both nationally as well as internationally, but also to the federal government and nation in his failing  to say a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in more than three weeks of the WSJ expose of his RM2.6 billion personal bank accounts at AmBank in March 2013 just before the 13th general election," Lim added.

The WSJ's report on July 2 had alleged that the largest portion of funds – US$681 million – had been transferred to Najib's accounts at AmBank in Kuala Lumpur in two tranches in March 2013, ahead of the national polls in May that year.

The WSJ said it sourced its information from documents obtained from Malaysian investigators.

Najib has denied taking money for personal gain but has yet to directly address claims of the fund transfers.

Najib's lawyers have sent a legal letter to WSJ asking for clarification if the report implied that the prime minister was misappropriating funds. WSJ has said that it is standing by its report, and also said that the article's position was clear enough.

It is now left to be seen whether Najib will sue the newspaper.

Lim said the best time for Najib to come clean would be at his birthday party tonight, adding that it was expected to be held with cabinet ministers in attendance.

He said that the birthday party would also be an ideal occasion for the ministers to declare whether they were recipients of the funds from Najib's personal accounts for the purpose of the general election, the amount received and spent and if there was a balance, what happened to it. – The Malaysian Insider