KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 24): The four youngest sons of Malaysia’s second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein have expressed concerns about news articles that have given the impression that their father left them a large inheritance.
"We are extremely concerned that some recent news articles and postings have given rise to speculation as to the nature and extent of the inheritance that our late father, Tun Abdul Razak, had left behind," said the short statement.
The four are Datuk Johari Razak, Datuk Nizam Razak, Datuk Nazim Razak and Datuk Seri Nazir Razak.
They are the younger brothers of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was not named in the statement.
They added: "We wish to put on record that Tun Abdul Razak was a highly principled man, well known to all who knew him for his frugality and utmost integrity and any statement or inference to the contrary would be totally false and misleading to his memory and to his service and sacrifices for the nation. We take issue with anyone who taints his memory, whatever the motive."
The four brothers ended the short statement by saying: "We would also like to add that our whole family is united on this issue."
A recent New York Times article on conyroversial businessman Jho Low’s property buying spree in New York had referred to his close ties with Najib, his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her son from her first marriage Riza Aziz.
The article also touched on the lifestyle of Najib’s family, in particular Rosmah’s purchases of expensive jewellery and handbags. It also quoted a former aide as saying that he saw "piles and piles of ringgit" in a safe kept by Najib.
In reply to a question posed by the NYT reporter on the matter, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had replied that: "Neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets."
The PMO statement which suggested that Razak’s family had inherited a sizeable amount of assets from their father had infuriated Najib's brothers because it was not true and to suggest otherwise would be to imply that Razak was tainted, sources close to the brothers said.
"They had no choice but to come out to make it clear that there was no large inheritance as suggested by the PMO statement,” said one source. "The four of them made the decision after consulting their mother Toh Puan Rahah."