Anwar pins blame squarely on Najib for 1MDB scandal

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Najib Razak is squarely to blame for the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said this amid suggestions that Najib might have been misled by billionaire fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, who is better known as Jho Low.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera English’s UpFront programme, Anwar called for stiff action against Najib.

He said Najib must be made accountable as instructions concerning fund transfers had come from the former prime minister.

“Yes,” he told host Mehdi Hasan, when asked if he held Najib totally responsible.

Anwar said he first raised the issue in Parliament in 2011, and had stood by it until he was arrested and sent to prison in 2015.

He said Najib had chaired many meetings concerning 1MDB.

“He instructed, clearly, the authorities to disperse the funds.”

Anwar dubbed the scandal “atrocious” and “one of the worst financial scandals involving any government”.

“It is imperative that stiff action be taken,” he was reported as saying by The Malay Mail.

He said the government would ensure investigations were done professionally.

Excerpts of the interview were made available to The Malay Mail.

On Thursday, Najib rejected all criminal charges filed against him for money laundering and abuse of power over his receipt, use and transfer of nearly RM2.3 billion allegedly from 1MDB.

He claimed trial at the Sessions Court here to 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power. Najib has said the sum was a donation from an Arab royal in 2013.

The charges were on top of Najib’s three money-laundering charges on Aug 8 over RM42 million linked to 1MDB’s former subsidiary, SRC International Sdn Bhd.