KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — National sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad was founded to help generate wealth for the country and not for the purposes of Bumiputera equity, Pekan MP Datuk Seri Najib Razak asserted today.

The former prime minister disputed incumbent PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s interpretation of Khazanah’s objective, even though the fund was set up in 1993 when the latter was head of the government the first time around.

"That was never the raison d’etre of Khazanah. It was envisioned as an institute to create wealth for the country,” Najib told reporters in Parliament here.

Dr Mahathir recently said Khazanah had deviated from its original objective.

Today, Khazanah confirmed that all nine of its board members tendered their resignations to allow Dr Mahathir to decide the fund’s leadership and direction.

Najib likened Khazanah to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings.

"Just like Temasek, Khazanah was designed to create talent.

"I am concerned about the future of the corporate sector in this country,” he added.