Scandal- plagued ousted PM Najeeb barred from leaving country

Kuala Lumpur, May 12: Malaysia's former leader Najib Razak was hit with a travel ban on Saturday as speculation mounted he was about to flee the country following his shock election loss, in a possible bid to avoid prosecution over a multi- billion- dollar scandal.

An angry crowd had gathered at a Kuala Lumpur airport, shouting at vehicles and seeking to stop them entering, after a purported flight itinerary leaked online showed Najib and his unpopular wife were planning to head to Indonesia.

Later Saturday, Najib -who has been under growing pressure from inside his Barisan Nasional ( BN) coalition since this week's landslide loss -announced he was quitting as head of BN as well as its main party.

The coalition's defeat in the election at the hands of an alliance led by his onetime mentor Mahathir Mohamad amounted to a political earthquake, which toppled an increasingly authoritarian regime that had ruled the country for six decades.

At 92, Mahathir is the world's oldest state leader. The former autocrat previously served as prime minister for over two decades and was a BN stalwart. But he came out of retirement and defected to the opposition in a bid to unseat Najib over allegations that huge sums were looted from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, which Najib set up and oversaw.

Speculation had been mounting that Najib might try to flee the country as Mahathir has pledged to investigate the controversy if he won power.