FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng has likened his predecessor Najib Razak’s Facebook posts to fairy tales.

He said this when asked what he thought about Najib posting yesterday that he would explain the RM2.6 billion donation he received from Saudi Arabian royalty years ago.

“I have not read it. I think let the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or the attorney-general look into it,” Lim said.

“Sometimes I don’t understand Najib… like (his comments) on the GST and SST, Equanimity (yacht) and the cash found in properties linked to him. To me, they all don’t make sense.

“I have not read his new story. But when we read his posts, it is like reading a fairy tale.”

Speaking to reporters during a press conference in Penang this afternoon, Lim also sarcastically said Najib, who is also the former prime minister, was “now very hardworking”, writing “three or four columns a day”.

Since losing power, Najib, who remains Pekan MP, has been issuing statements via his Facebook page.

Yesterday, he said he would soon reveal the source of the RM2.6 billion donation via Facebook or in a press conference. He also said he would explain the various contributions he had received over the years since 2011.

He said it was the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who had given him the money to help Umno defend itself should an Arab Spring-style uprising happen in Malaysia.

“Since I am no longer prime minister and King Abdullah has since passed away, I feel it is appropriate to reveal the document to clear my name from all accusations and slander,” he wrote.

Najib also posted documents on the money received from the Saudi government in 2011.

But two Wall Street Journal reporters, who broke the story on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal Najib is linked to, said the former prime minister was being selective in revealing facts about the money.

Tom Wright and Bradley Hope said Najib had said nothing new in his Facebook post.

“We have always reported that (Najib received millions from Saudi Arabia in 2011). It has nothing to do with the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) in 2013 that came from 1MDB, not to mention tens of millions more from the fund,” Wright tweeted in response to Najib’s Facebook post.

“Najib says it’s taken a while for him to get these documents on Saudi donations. We’ve had them for years, and there’s nothing new in them. And, they don’t explain why he received US681 million in 1MDB cash.”

Hope tweeted that the documents Najib posted were “partly misleading” and were also based on “alleged fraud”, adding that there were doubts whether the letter posted was a genuine document.

On Najib talking about matters that could be related to his court case, Lim said it was Najib who had previously wanted a gag order from the court to prevent the media from discussing his case.

“Since there is no gag, he now wants everyone to talk about his case. That’s Najib for you,” the DAP secretary-general said.

In July, Najib was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of misusing his position. The charges are linked to SRC International, a former subsidiary of beleaguered state investor 1MDB, Najib’s brainchild.

His lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah then requested for an interim gag order on digital and print media to prevent them from discussing the merits of the case. But the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed the application last month. – September 11, 2018.