NAJIB Razak’s sowed the seeds of Barisan Nasional’s downfall with his July 2015 purge, the Straits Times reports.

The Singapore paper reconstructed events of the last week of July that year, which  saw a flurry of activity as Najib sought to push back against “a perfect storm” that was building up around the former prime minister as the result of investigations into scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

“Chess pieces were being lined up with the ultimate aim to checkmate Najib and force him to resign,” says a senior operative in the Najib camp, told the paper.

Rumours were circulating that the royal households and Umno were abandoning Najib, ST said.

The chain of events began with the Wall Street Journal breaking the story that Malaysian investigators were building a case around the flow of money from 1MDB into Najib’s personal accounts.

Then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin seized on the allegations, and publically denounced Najib, while then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail confirmed that the money flows were being investigated by a special task force comprising the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara and police.

The key witness was businessman Rosman Abdullah. He was picked up by the task force on July 22 with the hope of securing a confession to wrap up the case against Najib. 

Upon being told by intelligence officials that a case was being built around Rosman, Najib ordered Ahamd Zahid Hamidi to take the businessman out of reach of the task force. Police then squirreled Rosman away to a safe house on July 24, and the task force’s case against Najib crumbled.

Najib then swiftly moved to purge his enemies in government, sacking Gani and Muhyiddin on the same day the following week. Several officials in the civil service were also reassigned or forced to retire.

Since Pakatan Harapan’s victory at the polls, Muhyiddin is back in government, Gani is being considered to be the prosecutor if charges are filed against Najib and several civil servants have been reinstated to their posts. – May 27, 2018.