KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Top officials from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for the 1 Malaysian Development Berhad (1MDB) should resign voluntarily before they are fired for failing to spot the RM2.6 billion deposits into the prime minister’s personal bank accounts were “donations” from the start, veteran newsman Datuk A Kadir Jasin demanded.

The former group editor of pro-establishment daily New Straits Times suggested the senior graftbusters were to blame for the controversial corruption claims against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak after the MACC issued a statement yesterday to announce the money came from “donors” and were not from the debt-riddled 1MDB as alleged.

“As for the MACC, the whole bunch of its top echelon, starting with Chief Commissioner (Tan Sri) Abu Kassim Mohamed, should resign voluntarily for failing to discover earlier that the US$700 million  (RM2.6 billion) in the PM’s personal account/s at AmIslamic was from donations, failing which they should be sacked!” Kadir wrote on his blog yesterday.

He said that in hindsight, the narrative of the donations and talk that the amount came from the purses of wealthy Arabs “could be wholly possible”.

“It has been publicly announced that Mohd Najib’s wife, (Datin Paduka Seri) Rosmah Mansor, is very close to the wealthy Arabs, including members of royal families,” he said.

However, Kadir said there were still questions remaining even if the RM2.6 billion money in the PM’s personal accounts have been attributed as donations.

“Who are these donors and why did it take such a long time for the MACC and the 1MDB Taskforce to discover that the US$700 was from donation?” he asked.

He also questioned the whereabouts of 1MDB’s allegedly unaccounted money or debts.

“If the money in the Prime Minister’s account/s was not from 1MDB, why didn’t Jho Low say so or why did people linked to the account/s had to run away from the country?” he asked.

Low Taek Jhow, better known as Jho Low, is a Penang-born billionaire who has been linked to 1MDB and is being sought by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to help in its inquiry into the state investment fund.

Kadir also said former officials linked to 1MDB such as SRC International managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil should come forward and clear Najib’s name.

SRC International was formerly a subsidiary of 1MDB but is now directly under the control of the Finance Ministry.

Yesterday, MACC issued a statement confirming reports that RM2.6 billion was deposited into Najib’s accounts but said the money was from donors and not 1MDB.

The identities of the donors, the purpose of the contributions and how the money was spent were not revealed, however.

In a report in June, US-based daily Wall Street Journal, citing documents from Malaysian investigators currently scrutinising the troubled 1MDB’s financials, claimed that a money trail showed that US$700 million were moved among government agencies, banks and companies before it ended up in Najib’s accounts.