“I believe the Malaysian people want Datuk Seri Najib to go on leave as prime minister so as not to create the perception of abuse of power or process to halt or hinder a full and transparent investigation”, opposition leader Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said in a statement.
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Asked whether he was also reaching out to his own brother, Shahrir Abdul Samad, who is a senior Umno member and former minister, he said:”I sent him a video of [the] United States attorney general on this case but he has not responded”.
“Mr Najib has become accustomed to weathering worldwide investigations”, Eurasia said in a note to clients.
The revelations could undermine his credibility and give new ammunition to a movement to force him from office.
Mr Najib said on Thursday that his government would give its full cooperation to worldwide investigations of the 1MDB case, adding that Putrajaya is committed to good governance.
Mahathir called for a peaceful rally to demand the prime minister’s removal.
Najib also stressed that the country is “serious about good governance”.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) in its court named his stepson, Mr Riza Aziz, and businessman Low Taek Jho, a former Najib confidant, as having laundered money out of 1MDB, resulting in a move to seize US$1 billion in assets. “Malaysia highly values its bilateral relations with the United States and calls on the U.S.to recognize the various steps taken by the Government of Malaysia to address the 1MDB issue”, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday night.
This follows ongoing investigations of various 1MDB-related fund flows through Singapore for possible money laundering, securities fraud, cheating, and other offences committed here.
A key individual named in the official complaint by U.S. prosecutors is Riza Aziz, who is Najib’s stepson.
However, Mr Najib is clearly recognisable in the descriptions and actions attributed to that official.
The DOJ complaint describes Riza as a relative of an unnamed “Malaysian Official 1” whose approval was needed for the fund’s financial commitments.
A person with knowledge of the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed that “Malaysian Official 1” was Mr Najib. Both are cited as possessing assets bought with money stolen from 1MDB.
In May, they said they were closing down the operations of Swiss private bank BSI AG in Singapore for serious breaches of anti-money laundering rules, the first such action in 32 years.
He said no one can deny that it has been a very challenging 40 years of Najib’s political career, especially the last 10 years since 2006, when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad decided he has had enough of retirement and made a comeback to the Malaysian political scene.
“And we don’t want to come to any conclusions until that process is done”, Najib told reporters at an event in Kuala Lumpur.
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“There has been no evidence from any investigation conducted by any law enforcement agencies in various jurisdictions which shows that money has been misappropriated from 1MDB [or] criminal charges preferred against any individuals for the offense”, the attorney-general said in a statement. “We had no visibility into whether some of those funds may have been subsequently diverted to other purposes”, a Goldman Sachs spokesman said.
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