KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — Barisan Nasional (BN) must hand over power to a caretaker administration and hold a general election by next year over claims the prime minister received funds from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), said Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan.

The social activist said this was necessary as the alleged corruption may involve other leaders in the Najib administration.

Ambiga added that an interim government will ensure a proper investigation into the claim linking 1MDB funds to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“There are ongoing investigations and you will never get an impartial investigation if he is still in office. He will have his chance to clear his name, but all those carrying investigation must be left alone. They must be allowed to carry on jobs without fear.

“So maybe it is time to look at a caretaker government because who else knew about money? They (other BN leaders) are just as culpable.

“There must be a promise of fresh elections in one year. In my view, from the evidence, it really questions our credibility,” Ambiga told reporters after a meeting between citizens groups and federal opposition MPs to discuss the explosive claims by The Wall Street Journal that US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) in 1MDB funds ended up in Najib’s personal accounts.

During the meeting, both groups called for a special Parliament sitting to examine the WSJ report.

They also wanted Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz to attend the sitting to explain if the allegations are true.

They also agreed that Najib must go on leave pending investigation into the allegations.

Commenting on the matter, Ambiga said there must be serious effort by the opposition to push for Najib’s temporary relief from office while the investigation is ongoing.

“Leaders and members of the opposition must see him and demand,” she said.

While the meeting between the opposition and the NGOs was underway this afternoon, the government announced it had frozen six bank accounts.

In a statement issued on behalf of the special taskforce involving four agencies, Abdul Gani said the order to freeze the bank accounts was issued yesterday.

Aside from the AG, the other signatories in the statement were Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohammed.

The statement did not identify the bank accounts frozen, but Sarawak Report previously published several AmBank account numbers that were allegedly used for the transactions.

On Saturday, Abdul Gani confirmed that the special taskforce was already investigating the claim published by the WSJ, and that raids were conducted on three companies implicated in the report.

Najib has denied taking money for personal gain and categorised the allegations as “political sabotage”.