Najib never took 1MDB funds for personal use, Putrajaya says after money linked to PM accounts
(MMO) – A Putrajaya spokesman has insisted to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has never exploited funds from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) for personal use, after the international business paper confronted the government with claims that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) have been deposited into what is believed to be the prime minister’s private accounts.
The daily, citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that the money trail shows that the cash was moved between government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.
These documents, said WSJ, include bank transfer forms and flowcharts put together by investigators to shed light on 1MDB’s cash flow. The paper said this is the first time a direct connection to Najib has been established in the probe on 1MDB.
“The prime minister has not taken any funds for personal use,” the daily quoted a Malaysian government spokesman as saying in response.
“The prime minister’s political opponents, unwilling to accept his record or the facts, continue to try to undermine him with baseless smears and rumours for pure political gain.”
The paper also spoke to a spokesman from 1MDB who claimed ignorance in the matter.
“1MDB is not aware of any such transactions, nor has it seen any documents to this effect,” the spokesman reportedly told WSJ.
The spokesman also pointed out to the daily that doctored documents have been used in the past to discredit Putrajaya and the Finance Ministry-owned 1MDB, referring to the email correspondence between PetroSaudi International (PSI) and 1MDB that were purportedly leaked to Sarawak Report by former PSI director Xavier Justo.
Justo is currently under the custody of Thai police.
According to WSJ, the original source of the funds is unclear and the investigation does not show what happened to the money after it was deposited into Najib’s accounts.
Citing documents that it claimed to have viewed, WSJ said that investigators discovered five separate deposits from two sources that were made into Najib’s accounts.
