TEHRAN, May 24 - Former Malaysian leader Najib Razak arrived at the anti-graft agency Thursday to be questioned for a second time this week over a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal following his shock election loss.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - Najib's coalition suffered a defeat at the May 9 poll which ended their six-decade hold on power, beaten by a reformist alliance led by Mahathir Mohamad.
Mahathir, who first served as premier from 1981-2003 and came out of retirement aged 92 to take on Najib, campaigned on claims that the former leader and his cronies looted sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen from the fund in a sophisticated fraud, and used to buy everything from artworks to high-end real estate.
Since Najib's ouster, police have seized cash reportedly amounting to at least $25 million, plus jewels and handbags in raids on properties linked to him and his unpopular wife.
Najib pushed through a huge media scrum at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in the administrative capital of Putrajaya as he arrived to be quizzed about 1MDB money allegedly ending up in his personal bank accounts.
He smiled and waved at journalists as he went into the building. He had already been questioned at the agency for over four hours on Tuesday.
Najib is being probed by the anti-corruption body over SRC International, an energy company that was originally a subsidiary of 1MDB.
According to an investigation by the Wall Street Journal, 42 million ringgit ($10.6 million) originating from SRC was transferred to Najib's personal bank accounts, just one small part of the graft scandal.
Hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB allegedly ended up in Najib's accounts but the ex-leader and the investment vehicle have denied any wrongdoing.
Source: AFP
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