Najib claims RM2.6b was a ‘contingency fund’ he requested from Saudi royalty
(MMO) – Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he had requested for cash from Saudi King Raja Abdullah when analysis conducted prior to the 13th general election had shown a bleak outlook and a tough upcoming election for Barisan Nasional (BN).
In a posting on his Facebook page, Najib explained how the RM2.6 billion which was allegedly misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad had ended up in his personal bank account.
He said the monies were deposited into his personal AmBank account over two transactions, an account he said was used exclusively for political purposes for several years.
“I also received information the Opposition had racked up a wealth of funds from local and international contributors, and from running the Selangor and Penang state administrations.
“Due to this, I was worried a repeat of “916” was very likely to happen after GE13,” he said in the post.
916 was an incident in 2008, when the Opposition led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had attempted to file a no-confidence motion against then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
It is said the attempt included buying over up to 40 BN MPs to join the Opposition to form the government.
Najib said he then requested the cash from the Saudi King, as a “contingency fund” to aid during the elections, to which the King then agreed to contribute an initial sum of US$800 million (RM3.31billion today).
However, Najib claimed he only received US$681 (then RM2.6billion) from the King’s various accounts, one of which came from a company named Tanore.
Tanore has been reported to be a supposed shell company used to wire funds from 1MDB to accounts of selected beneficiaries, including Najib’s.
Najib said since no repeat of “916” was on the horizon following GE13, he decided to return the cash to the Saudi King.
“Due to a depreciation of 10 per cent in exchange rate from March to August, after conversion only US$620 million (today RM2.57 billion) was returned to the King.
“In conclusion, I did not keep the RM2.6 billion. Even if someone wanted to steal, it doesn’t make sense to stash it in an account under their name, and we know it is not from 1MDB as those were funds sourced from loans,” he said.
Najib went on to claim today’s Pakatan Harapan leaders were well aware of the truth, but are in denial and are refusing to admit he did not pocket the cash to buy rings or handbags.
He also claimed it would not have been the best choice to expose to the world the local political landscape of MPs being bought at that time.
“Why didn’t I reveal this earlier? Like I have previously mentioned, King Abdullah had requested to keep mum on the donation, and besides, would it be right as a Prime Minister at that time to reveal the activities of buying MPs happening in the Malaysian democracy?” he said in the statement.
