Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak has been accused of using government development projects and other programs to line his own pockets. Interestingly, while Najib has directed his lawsuit towards the Wall Street Journal, the newspaper itself didn’t actually make the accusation of corruption.
Instead, the newspaper claimed that a government-appointed probe uncovered the evidence of money flowing back to Najib’s bank accounts. The newspaper did state, however, that is has reviewed some of the evidence used in the probe, including documentation and flow charts.
Najib is expected to file the lawsuit on Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. Najib claims that former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad fabricated these “lies” in an effort to undermine his government. Mahathir has emerged as a vocal critic of Najib in recent years, and has ramped up pressure as of late.
Investigators claim to have found five deposits made into the Prime Minister’s personal accounts, totaling some $681 million dollars. The largest alleged transfer was a $621 million dollar transfer made in March of 2013, when the Prime Minister’s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition was at risk of losing its hold on the government since taking power in 1973.
Barisan Nasional survived the election, but lost the popular vote. Extensive gerrymandering ensures that Barisan Nasional’s power base in rural Malaysia, which is dominated by poorer Malays, is over represented in the country’s parliament.
A strong coalition movement, Pakatan Rakyat, has emerged as a serious contender to Barisan Nasional, though its enigmatic leader Anwar Ibrahim has been jailed on charges of sodomy. Whether the ruling coalition will be able to survive his absence remains to be seen.
The latest corruption scandal, however, may prove to be enough to undue Prime Minister Najib’s administration. Najib has been facing increasing pressures from both internal and external opponents, and his approval ratings have been steadily declining.
This isn’t the first time Najib has found himself wrapped up in a corruption scandal. When Prime Minister Najib was defense minister in 2002 the Malaysian government bought two French submarines, and it’s believed that as much as $1.1 billion dollars in kickbacks exchanged hands during this time. In 2006, a Mongolian model and translator, who was connected to the submarine deal, was killed, allegedly on Najib’s orders for seeking a part of the kickback.
