PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has ridiculed his predecessor Najib Razak’s insistence that his RM2.6 billion “donation” came from Saudi Arabia.

“What else can he say? The whole world knows it and Malaysia became known as a kleptocracy under him and it’s published all over the world.

“If he’s free from corruption, he could take action against them but he couldn’t. He threatened them but didn’t take action,” Dr Mahathir told reporters on the sidelines of the 2018 Anti-Corruption Summit in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was referring to Najib’s insistence that the money, allegedly from 1Malaysia Development Bhd, came from the Saudi government despite a denial by the kingdom’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adel Ahmed Al-Jubeir recently.

Najib is being charged based on evidence collected by agencies in Malaysia and not foreign press reports, he said.

“When a lot of money (RM1 billion) moves between banks, there will be a record. There is a paper trail for people who try to steal money through corruption. 

“Moreover, the Arabs have come out to say they didn’t give any money,” Dr Mahathir said.

Adel’s denial was reported by Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah after the former paid a visit to Wisma Putra last week.

Adel previously had not been consistent on the source of the funds.

In comments in 2016, he backed Najib’s claims that the money was a donation form the Saudi royal family.

In July this year, after Najib’s Barisan Nasional government was defeated in the 14th general election, Adel told The New York Times that he did not believe the funds were from the Saudi government.

“It was a private Saudi citizen, I believe, and the funds went to an investment in Malaysia,” he told NYT.

After Saifuddin’s announcement, Najib posted on Facebook an explanation on how the money had come from Riyadh and that he had returned most of it within months, posting photos of a letter from Prince Abdulaziz Al-Saud about the donation and bank transfer slips. – October 30, 2018.