KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was resorting to suing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the RM2.6 billion issue as all his other offensives on the matter have failed, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said.
The multimedia and communications minister predicted the former prime minister’s latest initiative will also fail, just as all the latter’s unsuccessful attempts to remove Najib as prime minister.
“Tun Mahathir’s latest action demonstrates how desperate he is. He is clutching at straws.
Tun Mahathir tried to topple the prime minister through Umno. He failed. Tun Mahathir tried a parliamentary vote of no confidence. He failed. Now Tun Mahathir is trying to sue. His accusations are false, so he will fail yet again,” Salleh said in a statement today.
He added that the lawsuit signalled that Dr Mahathir has finally exhausted all political avenues to try and make Najib step down, forcing him to resort to such an attempt today.
Dr Mahathir and two others sued Najib today for alleged interference in government investigations on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and the RM2.6 billion political donation.
Among others, they are seeking for the court to order Najib to pay exemplary damages of RM2.6 billion and aggravated damages of RM42 million to the government of Malaysia, although they said the exact sum will be left to the court to assess.
On January 26, Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any wrongdoing in the corruption probes on former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International Sdn Bhd, and the transfer of an alleged RM2.6 billion donation into the prime minister’s private accounts.
He also said he will return the three investigation papers to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and instruct them to close the cases.
