KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hit back at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s supporters today, telling the government in what appears to be a sarcastic challenge to halt its investigation on the prime minister and go after him instead.
The former prime minister also dared investigators to charge and arrest him if they were to find him guilty of any wrongdoing.
“I welcome the proposal that the authorities should stop investigating the banking affairs of Dato Sri Najib but instead investigate the allegation by Tunku Aziz that I lost RM600 million in the 80s,” he said in his latest blog post.
He was referring to allegations raised by former Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim who spoke recently of the “outrageously questionable ventures” during his 22-year tenure as prime minister, including the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Limited (BMF) scandal that cost nearly US$1 billion (RM3.8 billion).
“If there is evidence that the money went into my account, please charge and arrest me. It is not too late,” Dr Mahathir replied.
He went on to add that his offer to be investigated was not meant to deflect attention from the current investigation against Najib.
“I just want to make people happy,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also denied being anyone’s proxy in his attack on the government, insisting instead that it was Najib who was behaving like the proxy of foreigners.
As examples, he said Najib has three Britons as his advisers and pointed out that the prime minister has also hired foreign consultants to advise him on government matters.
“He also asked Singapore whether he should build the bridge or the high-speed train. When Singapore said no, he shelved those projects.
“Jho Low is his friend and seems to have considerable hold on him,” Dr Mahathir said, referring to billionaire businessman Low Taek Jho, who has been tied in several allegations to Najib as well as the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
“The fact is that he is their proxy not mine. If he had behaved as my proxy there would have been no 1MDB etc,” the former prime minister added.
Dr Mahathir has been leading attacks against Najib’s leadership, particularly on the 1MDB scandal, and has repeatedly urged for the prime minister’s early resignation, claiming the latter may cause Barisan Nasional (BN) to fall in the next general election.
Najib’s brainchild 1MDB is currently under probe for alleged impropriety by a number of authorities.
The prime minister was recently linked to the scandal in an exposé by the Wall Street Journal that claimed that investigators have found a money trail linking Najib’s accounts to 1MDB funds.
