PUTRAJAYA, July 8 — There were no calls for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to temporarily step down over corruption allegations during the Cabinet meeting today, said minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Instead, the youth and sports minister said Cabinet members jointly wanted to allow the investigation by special taskforce on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to take its proper course.

“No, I think the Cabinet was very united in the view that we have to allow for due process to take its course, right now the task force is investigating the matter,” he said when asked if such any minister sought for Najib to step aside.

“The task force is made up of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the police, Bank Negara as well as the MACC and until the task force comes up with their results of the investigations, it’s too premature to comment on anything else,” he told reporters after Najib handed over the 2015 Inaugural Fellows to Cabinet ministers at the Perdana Putra building here.

Most Cabinet ministers were present, but the few who met with reporters refused to comment on the recent allegations against the prime minister.

Khairy, who is also the Umno Youth chief, said Najib explained to the ministers that he is considering legal action against the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and that lawyers representing him will send out a letter of confirmation to the business daily.

WSJ has published a series of exposes on the alleged graft involving Najib, claiming that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from 1MDB had been funnelled into the Malaysian prime minister’s private accounts.

According to reports this morning, Najib’s lawyers have sent a letter to the WSJ, asking the international business daily to confirm if it accused their client of misappropriating the US$700 million it claimed was funnelled into his accounts.

Instead of the usual letter of demand that is used to begin defamation lawsuits, Najib’s lead counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun confirmed to the Malay Mail Online that they opted to use this as their first course of action.

In the letter, WSJ was given two weeks to respond to demands for a clarification if its report meant it was alleging misappropriation.

Najib’s lawyers also told WSJ that the confirmation is also necessary to enable them to then advise their client on his “appropriate legal recourse”.

Yesterday, a special taskforce was announced that six bank accounts linked to the WSJ report claiming US$700 million was moved from 1MDB to the prime minister have been frozen.

The same taskforce today raided 1MDB’s office in the heart of Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle area.