(July 3): Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should tell his boss Datuk Seri Najib Razak to go on leave in the wake of claims by the Wall Street Journal that billions of ringgit were channelled into his personal bank accounts, DAP said today.

Party parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang also said that a three-man committee of national elders comprising former prime ministers Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as well as former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam should then decide on the conditions on which Najib can return to his job.

He added that alternatively, Najib must agree to convene an emergency Parliament meeting in view of the unprecedented political crisis caused by the WSJ report.

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

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

Both WSJ and Sarawak Report quoted documents from the 1MDB probe carried out by the Malaysian government, with Sarawak Report saying that the attorney-general was also aware of the information.

"These allegations are most far-reaching in scope and implications, in particular on good governance and public integrity and accountability, plunging the country into an unprecedented crisis which had never been experienced in Malaysia, as no prime Minister in Malaysia has ever been singled out in the fashion like Najib for prime ministerial misconduct," Lim said in a statement today.

The Gelang Patah MP added that the comment by a government spokesperson saying that the prime minister had not used any funds for personal use, and the statement from the Prime Minister's Office describing the WSJ report as “political sabotage against Najib” were too flimsy.

"This is the first time such a grave, serious and even heinous charges of abuse of power and prime ministerial misconduct have been levelled by a reputable international publication.

"Prime ministers in developed parliamentary democracies would have no hesitation in going on leave until the serious allegations are cleared, and there is no reason why Najib should be an exception." - The Malaysian Insider