Malaysia’s ex-PM Razak questioned over corruption
Najib Razak, the ousted prime minister of Malaysia, has been summoned to court to answer questions regarding corruption allegations.
The ousted prime minister arrived at the headquarters of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Tuesday to be quizzed over allegations about the illegal transfer of millions of dollars into his bank account.
The move marks the start of a probe into allegations of the theft of billions of dollars looted from the sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in an scandalous operation allegedly overseen by the ousted leader.
The allegations of theft marred the last three years of Najib’s almost one decade of rule and were one of the main reasons why voters dumped him in the general elections on May 9.
Malaysia’s new leader, Mahathir Mohamad, who at the age of 92 came out of political retirement and joined the opposition to topple his former protégé, Najib, has reopened investigations into the 1MDB and has vowed to recover the money that has disappeared from the fund.
Plata o plomo?
The head of Malaysia’s anti-graft commission gave an emotional account on Tuesday of how he had been threatened while investigating the 1MDB state fund in 2015.
He claimed that on one occasion, a lead bullet was sent to his home.
Shukri Abdull, who was speaking to reporters after the ousted prime minister arrived at the headquarters of the MACC, said he had summoned the former premier to record a statement, not to arrest or charge him.
This is the first step by the task force set up to probe the alleged theft of billions of dollars in public funds from the 1MDB.
Shukri explained to reporters that he had been threatened by the previous government that he would lose his job and would go to jail if he investigated the fund.
“We had our own intelligence sources [say] that I would be arrested and locked up, because I was accused as being part of a conspiracy to bring down the government,” Shukri told the reporters.
“We wanted to bring back money that was stolen back to our country. Instead we were accused of bringing down the country, we were accused of being traitors,” he said, while shedding tears during his opening remarks.
Malaysian police have already raided residences linked to Najib, including his own family house as part of the ongoing probe.
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