Najib became a hugely unpopular figure over his alleged involvement in plundering huge sums from Malaysian sovereign fund 1MDB in a sophisticated fraud that is now being investigated in several countries.
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As Najib’s travels were restricted, so Anwar Ibrahim, the jailed opposition leader to whom Mahathir has promised to hand power, was… At the time Najib chaired its advisory board and held veto power over the fund’s activities.
During his 22 years in office, Mahathir worked hard to put Malaysia on the world map with ambitious projects such as the world’s tallest office building, the world’s longest building, one of the world’s largest dams and Southeast Asia’s largest airport.
Mahathir also named former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin as home affairs minister and Mohamad Sabu as defense minister. Confirming the reports on Saturday, Mahathir said that he prevented Najib from leaving the country.
USA investigators say Najib’s associates stole and laundered $4.5 billion from the fund, with some $700 million landing in Najib’s bank account and around $30 million used to buy jewellery for his wife.
Najib Razak was president of United Malays National Organisation and chairman of Barisan Nasional coalition.
The government’s immigration department said they were blacklisted from leaving Malaysia, the Straits Times reported. He began a five-year sentence for sodomy in 2015, a charge he and his supporters say was politically motivated.
Mahatir Mohamad has also sacked the attorney general who cleared Najib of involvement in the scandal.
The Prime Minister said the session would be used to explain what would be carried out by the new Pakatan Harapan-led government especially in fighting corruption in the government’s administration.
Mr Najib acknowledged around $700 million appeared in his private bank accounts before the 2013 election, but said the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family.
The elections were made more contentious when Naijib and his party were accused of trying to skew election results in their favor by redrawing electoral lines based on race and ethnic grouping, while railroading an anti-Fake News bill through parliament.
Mahathir, who earlier cast doubt on Apandi’s credibility, said Monday that the country’s solicitor-general will take over Apandi’s job while he goes on leave.
The scandal has gripped the country for years. Prime Minister Modi conveyed his good wishes for the progress and prosperity of the friendly people of Malaysia.
“You can not call it a raid”, he said.
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He said we need to have 10 leaders and each party would have to give three names and their desired ministry but if there were any overlaps the final decision would be made by the Prime Minister.
