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Malaysian govt not acting in revenge, Mahathir says after Najib's daughter claims baby's bank account frozen

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has rejected claims that his administration is bent on taking revenge against his predecessor Najib Razak by freezing the family's bank accounts.

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has rejected claims that his administration is bent on taking revenge against his predecessor Najib Razak by freezing the family's bank accounts.

Speaking after a Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting on Friday (July 6), Dr Mahathir said Najib's family are free to take any grouses they had to court if they felt like the current Pakatan Harapan government was mistreating them.

“Why do we want to take revenge? These are all allegations. If they claim that something is wrong, take it to the courts," he said.

The 93-year-old said that while he was in the opposition, Najib had taken action against his friends who supported PH.

“What he did last time, we did not complain (about). All my friends were chased off; they were not allowed to be friends with me. Their accounts were frozen. We did not complain.”

His comments come after Najib’s children criticised the PH government for practising biased prosecution against their father, who has been charged on Wednesday (July 4) with abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in an investigation over billions of dollars missing from state fund 1Malaysia Development Fund (1MDB).

The charges relate to funds of about RM42 million (S$14.16 million) that allegedly went from SRC International, a former 1MDB unit, into Najib's personal bank account.

He pleaded not guilty and is currently out on bail ahead of his trial.

Najib's daughter, Ms Nooryana Najwa, revealed on Thursday that both her and her child’s bank accounts had been frozen by the authorities in their probe into 1MDB. She lambasted the Pakatan Harapan government for being "so vindictive" that it was going after any member of the Razak clan it can, including an infant.

Ms Nooryana's half brother Nazifuddin Najib said the "New Malaysia" today is not vastly different from the one 30 years ago, claiming that the country still practised biased prosecution like before.

“We are a country that speaks of democracy but we are politically immature and still practising feudal politics filled with vengeance,” he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday night.

Mr Nazifuddin, a businessman in his early 30s, is Najib’s son from his previous marriage to Tengku Puteri Zainah Tengku Eskandar.

Dr Mahathir said on Friday that claims by Najib's family were just bald allegations and said that these were easy to make.

"If he (Najib) feels this is wrong, he can take us to court," he added. AGENCIES

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