KUALA LUMPUR: As had been reported before, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak continues to stress that the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank account was a donation from a member of the Saudi royal family.
He also maintained that he had returned US$620 million from the donation to the donor after the 13th General Election (GE13).
In an exclusive interview with Malaysiakini, Najib told of how the donation came to be.
The former Umno president said he had asked the late Saudi ruler King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud to support the Malaysian government.
It was not an unusual request, Najib said, adding that the late ruler had agreed to support.
This was later followed by letters and the donation itself.
"I informed the relevant authorities. Bank Negara was informed of that fund that was coming in," Malaysiakini quoted the former Premier as saying.
On the claim that he took RM2.6 billion, Najib said it was not fair for Pakatan Harapan (PH) to not talk about him returning the money as the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had verified that over US$600 million was returned.
"Does it smack of somebody who was trying to cheat or steal? If the intention was to steal, why would I use a local bank account in my own name? I used the money for the election (GE13) and after the election, the (balance) money was returned. As far as I was concerned, that was the responsible thing to do,” was quoted as saying.
Explaining further on the donation, Najib said he thought it was important to have some money as contingency for GE13, fearing a repeat of the threat of 30 Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs crossing over to the Opposition during GE12.
Najib added that the movement of the funds were documented, stating that the Saudi Foreign Minister had also previously clarified it was a donation.
“As far as I am concerned, I acted in good faith," Najib said.
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