KUALA
LUMPUR - Two of Malaysia's main opposition parties on Sunday demanded an
emergency sitting of parliament to discuss Prime Minister Najib Razak's future
as tensions mounted over a report that linked him to probes into alleged
corruption involving state fund 1MDB.
A Wall
Street Journal (WSJ) report published on Friday said investigators had traced
nearly US$700 million (S$942 million) to bank accounts they believed belonged
to the prime minister.
Reuters
could not independently verify the report.
Najib has
denied taking any money from the debt-laden state fund or any other entity for
personal gain, and on Sunday said he had referred "wild allegations"
against him to lawyers and would decide any legal steps in a few days. "If
I wanted to steal, it wouldn't make sense that I would place that money into
accounts in Malaysia," he told reporters. "Surely as a prime minister
I would not betray Malaysians and property that belongs to Malaysians. This is
my promise." The Wall Street Journal did not respond immediately to a
request for its reaction to Najib's latest comments.
Pressure
mounted on Najib on Saturday after the country's attorney-general said he had
received documents from a task force investigating 1MDB that were
"connected to allegations"that money was transferred into the prime
minister's account. "With the attorney-general's confirmation, the WSJ
allegation against Najib has assumed an even more serious character and import,
sparking a political and government crisis of the first magnitude never seen in
Malaysia's 58-year history," Lim Kit Siang, the opposition Democratic
Action Party's (DAP) parliamentary leader, said in a statement.
Members
of Najib's party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), have closed
ranks behind the prime minister, who had already been on a back foot over the
mismanagement of 1MDB and his handling of the economy. However,
the DAP and opposition People's Justice Party (PKR) sought to stoke the furore,
urging the speaker of parliament's lower house to call an emergency sitting on
Tuesday.
DAP
lawmaker Charles Santiago said he and 72 others, including representatives of
political parties and non-governmental organisations, had also lodged a police
report. "We have asked that the police investigate the WSJ's assertion
that billions were deposited in Najib's personal account and take necessary
actions," he told Reuters.
"TARNISHING
THE COUNTRY'S IMAGE"
1MDB,
whose advisory board is chaired by Najib, has debt of nearly US$11.6 billion.
Even before the WSJ report it was the subject of separate investigations by the
central bank, auditor general, police and the parliament's Public Accounts
Committee.
Attorney-General
Abdul Gani Patail said on Saturday that a task force made up of members of the
anti-corruption commission, police and central bank had raided offices of three
companies linked to the state investor.
The Wall
Street Journal, citing documents from a government investigation, said there
were five deposits into Najib's account. It said the two largest transactions,
worth US$620 million and US$61 million, were made in 2013 from a company
registered in the British Virgin Islands via a Swiss bank.
1MDB has
described the allegations as "unsubstantiated", saying it never
provided funds to the prime minister.
Najib has
accused former premier Mahathir Mohamad, an ally-turned-critic, of fanning
allegations he described as a lie.
Najib,
himself the son of a prime minister and now in his second term, retains support
within the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.
His home
(interior) minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, said on Sunday those behind the
allegations appeared to be trying to undermine confidence in Malaysia's economy
and government, and their actions could be "a threat to national
security", the Bernama state news agency reported "The home ministry
will take action against any media that publish inaccurate information from
unknown sources for the purpose of tarnishing the country's and government's
image," his ministry said in a statement late on Saturday.
Source: AsiaOne
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