CHERAS, Aug 8 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he has been cleared of corruption claims linked to a RM2.6 billion deposit in his personal accounts.
The Umno president reiterated that he did not take the money for his own interests, but received it on behalf of his party.
“Don't say I sell the country, I won't sell the country, I'm prime minister that will take responsibility for whatever I do,” he told Umno members at the launch of the Bandar Tun Razak division's meeting.
While he said others may have received money in exchange for favours such as contracts and land development approvals, Najib said he never did so and that this aided his exoneration by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
“But this has no connection at all; that's why MACC has said it is not corruption and not 1MDB money,” he added, referring to the controversial Ministry of Finance-owned 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
“Already solved, how much, that I am willing to explain, with the condition that the opposition explains, that's fair,” he also said, referring to his willingness to disclose Umno's accounts if the federal opposition follows suit.
In his speech, Najib did not directly mention the RM2.6 billion that MACC said was deposited into his accounts by unnamed Middle East donors.
He stressed that his actions were for Umno's benefit, and that party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor knows that his fund collections are done for the party's interests.
Najib also explained that “much aid” has been disbursed for the party’s social responsibility programmes.
“We must defend the party because what I do is not for my own interests, but for the party,” he stressed.
He later said that he had not committed any wrongdoing, but had done everything for Umno's benefit.
The MACC has declared that the RM2.6 billion deposited in Najib’s accounts was not from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as previously alleged, but donations from an unnamed source.
