Malaysia PM to answer $700 million 'donation' Qs Dec 3

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

The office of the Malaysian prime minister has said that he plans to answer queries involving an alleged donation of $700 million into his personal bank accounts in early December.

For months, the country has been transfixed by allegations that the money may have been from deals involving heavily-indebted state investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Azalina Othman Said, a minister in the prime minister's department, told Anadolu Agency on Thursday that the answer would be provided during the Dec. 3 parliamentary session between 10 a.m. (0200GMT) and 11.30 a.m, but it is still undecided whether the explanation will be given by Najib Razak himself or a minister from his department.

"The 2.6 billion Ringgit is being questioned in every debate. If PM answers today, there will be continuous questions tomorrow and days after. So we have decided to accumulate and answer it on the last day. Isn't that better?" she underlined

Early July, international probes into debt-ridden state-owned 1MDB claimed that billions of Ringgit was channelled to personal bank accounts belonging to Razak.

The Wall Street Journal and whistle blower site Sarawak Report released reports quoting documents from the ongoing 1MDB probe claiming the $700 million (or 2.67 billion Ringgit) moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB before ending up in the prime minister's personal accounts in five separate deposits.

Razak subsequently denied the allegations, adding that he had never swindles funds for personal gain as alleged by political opponents, be they from 1MDB, Finance Ministry-owned SRC International or other entities.

A month after, the Attorney-General Chambers revealed that the funds were political donations to the Razak-led United Malays National Organisation for funding prior to the last general election in May 2013.

Politicians within UMNO later clarified that the funds came from "Middle East Royals" who wanted UMNO to retain power in Malaysia.

Razak however, has maintained his silence on the matter, citing political donations are confidential and he will only reveal donors’ names if opposition parties agree to follow suit.