PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has ruled out cutting a deal with Najib Razak to retrieve the billions allegedly stolen from state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

A Wall Street Journal article today reported Dr Mahathir as saying he expected charges to be filed against Najib following investigations into the 1MDB scandal.

“No deal,” Dr Mahathir said in an interview conducted by video link for the Wall Street Journal CEO Council in Tokyo.

He said a full investigation would be completed before any legal action was taken against Najib.

“We are now in the process of getting into details of the matters he suppressed in his time,” he said.

According to the report, Dr Mahathir said he expected to remain in power for one to two years.

The 92-year-old had indicated before the election that he would hand over the position to Anwar Ibrahim after he was released from prison.

Anwar, who had been convicted for sodomy, is to be released following a full pardon.

Dr Mahathir said in the report that Anwar would be released tomorrow, but added that he expected Anwar to serve as head of one of the parties in the ruling coalition for now. – May 15, 2018.