KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak has chided several reports on his interview with Sinar Harian today for quoting him saying that billionaire Low Taek Jho "may have cheated” his administration.

The former prime minister said in a statement that Low may have been in cahoots with the top management of banking firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) to siphon off funds to himself.

"Yesterday, IPIC was reported suing Goldman Sachs for damages, allegedly for conspiring to cheat IPIC,” Najib said on his Facebook page.

"If all these allegations are true then maybe Jho Low has conspired with Goldman Sachs and IPIC’s top management to cheat the company.”

Najib said his answer was in response to the host who asked whether it can now be admitted that Malaysia had been cheated by Low in matters involving 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"We know, it is too easy to get a wrong perception when we only read the headline,” Najib said.

"That is why it is very important for us to watch the whole interview to understand the context of my answers and not fixated on just one part until you lose the context for the whole of the reply.”

In the interview, Najib had maintained that his relationship with Malaysia’s most wanted man Low was strictly professional and was forged with the country’s economic interests in mind even as he continues to be flamed for the alleged theft of 1MDB funds.

The former prime minister also blamed US investment banking goliath Goldman Sachs for failing to safeguard Malaysia’s interests by not alerting his administration of Low’s efforts to defraud the Malaysian investment firm.

Goldman is coming under heavy scrutiny after convicted ex-banker Tim Leissner and another former banker, Roger Ng, were indicted on criminal charges in the US.

Details from the US Justice Department’s investigation suggest that the bank was complicit in Low’s efforts to defraud the Malaysian investment firm.

Yesterday, IPIC had sued Goldman for allegedly conspiring against the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund to further a criminal scheme by 1MDB.