PUTRAJAYA — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad called his predecessor Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s bluff on Thursday (June 12), after the latter claimed that the alleged embezzlement of funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) was kept secret from him.

The seventh prime minister told Malay Mail in an exclusive interview that it was impossible for Mr Najib to be unaware of the transactions when the latter's signature was all over the related documents.

“Who wants to believe him that he didn’t know, when he signed (his name)? Every bit of money that goes in and out of the first borrowing of RM42 billion (S$14.26 billion), all his signature. If he doesn’t know, it must be that he doesn’t understand what a signature means,” Dr Mahathir said.

1MDB had amassed RM42 billion in debt in the years since its inception in 2009, and Dr Mahathir had questioned its whereabouts since 2015.

Speaking to international news agency Reuters in a report published on Wednesday, Mr Najib blamed his advisers and the 1MDB board for not disclosing the alleged embezzlement to him.

Mr Najib claimed he was unaware that the money moved through his personal account was from 1MDB, and if it was laundered to buy assets which included yachts, paintings, jewellery, and real estate.

“We have all those. We know how much money goes into his account,” Dr Mahathir commented on Thursday, referring to the documents proving Mr Najib’s involvement in moving the money.

Dr Mahathir had earlier this week told Reuters that the authorities have “an almost perfect case” against Mr Najib to charge him of embezzlement, misappropriation and bribery.

Dr Mahathir told Malay Mail that it is ludicrous for someone to direct RM2 billion to be transferred into his account, but at the same time refusing to be informed of the transaction.

He was referring to the around US$700 million (S$953.61 million) that was allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB into Mr Najib’s account, as detailed by the US Department of Justice’s anti-kleptocracy probe.

“This cannot be. Because I have to sign to use the money. To use the money, I have to issue cheques. Najib always assume that people are stupid,” Dr Mahathir added.

He said Malaysia would incur RM300 billion more debt if Mr Najib and his coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) had won the May 9 general election.

Thanking Malaysians for voting to deliver a shocking blow to the coalition that had ruled for six decades, the prime minister said BN would need to borrow more on top of the RM1 trillion liabilities already revealed just to deliver some of its manifesto pledges.

“You’ve done a great job of getting rid of Najib, and had he won we would incur another RM300 billion of debt,” he said.

He claimed Mr Najib had promised between RM60 to 80 billion in allocations to each state if BN won Putrajaya in the national polls.

“Where is he going to get the money? Any thinking man would know he has to borrow, and if he's borrowing, he's going to add to the debt,” he said.

It is unclear how Dr Mahathir arrived at the figure as he did not elaborate. An allocation of at least RM60 billion for 14 states would be RM840 billion, while RM300 billion would give each state just over RM20 billion on average.

Malay Mail could not find the specific promises Dr Mahathir mentioned in BN’s election manifesto, and has requested clarification with the coalition.

Last month, newly-minted Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng revealed that Putrajaya debt and liabilities are at RM1.087 trillion, or 80.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Broken down, this included the federal government debt of RM686.8 billion, government guarantees (RM199.1 billion), and lease payments for public-private projects (RM201.4 billion).

Putrajaya has since launched the crowd-funded Tabung Harapan Malaysia in a symbolic bid to cut down the debt, which has collected RM89,127,407.24 as at 3pm on Wednesday.

In response, Mr Najib had then accused Mr Lim of being “reckless” in discussing Malaysia’s financial state, claiming the latter was using “guesstimation” to arrive at key figures that could move markets.

Dr Mahathir has previously claimed that many of the figures recording the country’s financial position may be false.

He told Malay Mail on Thursday that the debts are already over 80 per cent of the country’s GDP, denying again Mr Najib’s claim otherwise.

“People don’t calculate, you see? He said we're within our borrowing limit, but it's not. It goes beyond that limit,” he added. MALAY MAIL