Dr M brings up Rosmah in latest attack on Najib
(The Malaysian Insider) – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad fired a new salvo at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today, this time including mention of his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her “lavish lifestyle”.
Taking Najib to task again over unexplained missing funds from debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Dr Mahathir said in a blog post today that he had been able to overlook some of Najib’s “behaviour” until now.
“There are many things about his personal behaviour that I thought were not right. But I was prepared to overlook them, including he and his wife’s lavish lifestyle,” the former prime minister wrote.
“But when he cannot explain where billions of ringgit have gone to and his involvement with questionable people in the management of 1MDB, I feel that he is not fit to be the prime minister of this country.
“I will explain about how he lost billions of ringgit in my next blog,” he said.
On Saturday, Dr Mahathir said Umno, the ruling Malay party of which Najib is president, ought to remove him or risk losing the next general election.
“We are faced with this choice: either you remove a prime minister who has failed and who will lead Umno to lose the next election, or you take your chance that if he goes off, we may be able to revive Umno,” Dr Mahathir had told reporters after giving a speech an an anti-war forum in Kuala Lumpur.
He said Najib should be removed because he had failed to explain financial scandals involving 1MDB and where some of its funds in the Caymans had gone.
In previous blog posts at chedet.cc, Dr Mahathir has criticised Najib several times over 1MDB, and also his policy of giving cash handouts under the 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M).
The prime minister of 22 years has previously called for Najib’s resignation, but had never before this told Umno to take action so openly.
He had also never publicly commented on Rosmah before, whose spending on jewellery was mentioned in a February article in the New York Times which highlighted the wealth of businessman Low Taek Jho.
Low’s role as a property investor and transactions involving various parties, including Riza Aziz, Najib’s stepson, was also highlighted.
The paper also reported Rosmah’s spending on jewellery and designer handbags.
It said that Najib, “who earns an annual salary of about $100,000 (RM360,000) as prime minister, has been battered by news media reports of his wife’s lavish spending”.
It also noted that there were photos of Rosmah using at least nine different Birkin bags, which typically cost between US$9,000 and US$150,000 a piece.
