KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should consider his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s suggestion to sack 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) board members, Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said today.

The former finance minister said although Muhyiddin’s suggestion should not have been made public, as a senior member of the administration, the Umno leader’s thoughts on the controversy should be given due consideration.

“The problem is if in the event the PM doesn’t heed what the DPM has said in his statement to the group of Umno leaders... then it will be very embarrassing for the government because he is a senior member of the government,” Tengku Razaleigh, or “Ku Li” as he is popularly referred to, told reporters when met at the Parliament lobby here.

“But I would have thought being DPM, he would have whispered to the PM to alert his intentions to the probs that 1MDB is facing... and get the PM’s attention as to which way he was going to act.”

Last week, a video of Muhyiddin was posted on the blog called APANAMA showing the Umno deputy president suggesting in a speech at a closed-door training session that the entire 1MDB board should be sacked and investigated by the police.

The leaked video earned media headlines and fuelled talk that despite Najib’s recent claim to have the support of his deputy and the entire Umno supreme council, all may not be well within the party.

Today, Ku Li said Najib should not shoulder the blame alone over 1MDB’s alleged wrongs.

He said the entire federal Cabinet should similarly be held responsible over any element of impropriety in deals involving the debt-laden state investment firm.

“Everybody there must be responsible collectively for the problem, you cannot say this is your problem, not my problem.

“So long as you’re a member of the Cabinet, whether you know or don’t know what goes on in the government, you are equally responsible.

“The whole lot (of Cabinet must be responsible). If they don’t know, they should find out,” Ku Li  added.

Yesterday, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad demanded a criminal probe against Putrajaya following its admission that the US$1.103 billion (RM3.979 billion) in offshore deposits that 1MDB had supposedly redeemed was now in the form of “units” instead of cash as previously claimed.

The response contradicted a previous reply by Najib that the funds had been redeemed and kept in the form of US dollars in BSI Bank in Singapore.

In March, Najib ordered the AG and Public Accounts Committee to investigate 1MDB, amid growing demands for explanations over the state investment firm’s allegedly opaque investment decisions and for amassing a RM42 billion debt pile.

The strategic investment firm’s debts and subsequent cash flow issues that led to problems servicing its loan payments had prompted Dr Mahathir to seek Najib’s resignation.

1MDB was incorporated in 2009, after Najib announced the decision to turn the Terengganu Investment Authority state fund into a federal agency.

Since then the fund has been dogged by negative publicity over its finances and debts with the most recent being the controversial land deal with Lembaga Tabung Haji.