SUBANG JAYA, May 12 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today he will remain in the country after the Immigration Department banned him and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor from travelling abroad.

“I have been informed that the Malaysian Immigration Department has prohibited me and my family from traveling abroad. I respect the order and will remain in the country with my family,” he wrote in his latest Twitter post.

 

 

A notice on the blacklist was posted on the Immigration Department’s Facebook page minutes ago stating that Najib and Rosmah “have just been blacklisted from leaving the country”.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali confirmed the authenticity of the posting when contacted.

“Yes, confirm,” Mustafar told Malay Mail.

He had said earlier neither Najib nor Rosmah were on the travel blacklist when contacted at 8.22am to verify a report by news portal Malaysiakini, which had conducted its own checks on the Immigration Department’s Travel Status Enquiry System (SSPI) using the identity card numbers of Najib and Rosmah.

According to Malaysiakini, Najib and Rosmah would be required to “refer to the nearest Immigration office”, a term previously used on several Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders when they were blacklisted from travelling overseas.

In contrast, those free to travel would see “no obstruction” on the SSPI if their identity card numbers were keyed in.

Malaysiakini added that it performed the SSPI search through a proxy because the website was inaccessible domestically earlier this morning.

The beleaguered Najib, hounded by allegations of fund misappropriation from sovereign investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and Rosmah were previously reported scheduled to fly to Jakarta, Indonesia at 10am today.

 

However, the flight was later cancelled after a group of roughly 100 people turned up at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang Jaya, Selangor to bar Najib and his wife from leaving the country.