PETALING JAYA (July 3): The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has called the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) exposé, detailing a paper trail to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bank account as an act of political sabotage.

In a statement on social media sites Facebook and Twitter, PMO echoed 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) claims the government-owned company never provided any funds to Najib’s AmBank account as alleged in the WSJ report.

“Despite the Prime Minister's successful stewardship of Malaysia's economy against global headwinds — as recognised this week by Fitch's upgrade — there have been concerted efforts by certain individuals to undermine confidence in our economy, tarnish the government, and remove a democratically-elected Prime Minister.

“These latest claims, attributed to unnamed investigators as a basis to attack the Prime Minister, are a continuation of this political sabotage.

“It has been reported that criminal leaking of documents, doctoring and extortion has taken place to mislead the media and public,” said the report, referring to the arrest of former PetroSaudi International (PSI) executive Xavier Justo, who was arrested in Thailand recently.

The statement reminded “responsible members of the media” not to accept documents as genuine, unless it has been verified by proper authorities.

1MDB has been under relentless questioning by the political opposition and former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad. Other international press, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, have also published articles on the debt-laden 1MDB.