Funds of more than $600 million that turned up in Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s private bank accounts were from donations and not a troubled state investment company, the government said Thursday in an explanation to parliament.
The much-awaited statement to lawmakers largely repeated prior remarks from ministers about the scandal, which has overshadowed the ruling coalition for more than four months and led to periodic drops in stocks and the ringgit.
Investigations are ongoing and it would breach the law to comment further, Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi said in the address made on Najib’s behalf. Lawmakers including some from Najib’s own party have sought an explanation for the funds that appeared in the premier’s accounts before general elections in 2013. The speaker of the house said after Zahid’s statement that no questions were allowed.
Najib, 62, has said the funds were political donations from the Middle East rather than public money, an initial conclusion also reached by the anti-corruption commission. The money was to meet the needs of the party and the community and not a new practice, he has been cited as saying.
“In a democracy, the practice of receiving donations is allowed for political parties,” Zahid said. “It has never been stated that political donations must be declared.”
The anti-graft agency has identified the individual who donated the money, Zahid said, without elaborating.
