Najib to sue WSJ, says daily

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will take legal action against the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) over an article yesterday (July 3) claiming that billions of ringgit were channelled into the prime minister’s private bank accounts, Malaysian daily Sinar Harian reported today.

The prime minister’s political secretary, Mr Muhammad Khairun Aseh, was quoted as saying the report was criminal defamation.

The WSJ had alleged that funds from debt-ridden state-owned 1Malaysia Development Bhd were diverted into Mr Najib’s accounts prior to the 13th general election.

Mr Khairun said: “The report was done with bad intention and unsubstantiated and based on poor and dubious sources.

“We will take legal action,” he told the Malay daily.

The business daily said US$700 million (S$942.02 million) was moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB and finally ending up in the prime minister’s personal accounts in five separate deposits.

Both WSJ and also whistle-blower site Sarawak Report quoted documents from the 1MDB probe carried out by the Malaysian government, with Sarawak Report claiming that the Attorney-General was also aware of the information.

Last night, Mr Najib took to Facebook to refute the allegations, saying that he had never taken funds for personal gains from 1MDB or any other entity.

Mr Najib blamed Dr Mahathir Mohamad for orchestrating the attacks against him after he refused to implement the latter’s personal demands, adding that the former prime minister then “created a crisis” by recklessly claiming that RM42 billion (S$14.9 billion) was missing from 1MDB. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER