Najib admits he assumed the RM2.6b was a Saudi 'donation'

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 27): In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak admitted that he did not verify the source of the RM2.6 billion that ended up in his bank account.

Najib said he had assumed the money was “donations” involving Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud after he had a conversation with the King, MalayMail.com reported. A transcript of the interview was made available to Malay Mail and the interview by Al Jazeera reporter Mary Ann Jolley will be aired on the news channel today at 11.30am.

“The question is when I received the funds, was I aware of the source of the money or whether the source of the money is in dispute as to who owns the fund. Certainly, in my capacity, I would not have access to banking knowledge.

“Because whoever owns the fund is protected by the secrecy of the banking laws so when I received the funds, in all honesty, I thought it was a genuine donation and at that particular time, the knowledge that I had was based on a conversation with King Abdullah,” Najib said.

When Jolley pointed out that the US Department of Justice report clearly showed the paper trail of the funds, and Najib’s authority as prime minister, Najib denied knowledge of the matter, MalayMail.com reported.

“Yeah, but that prime ministers do not have access to banking information,” Najib said.

Last month, Najib claimed he had requested the cash from the Saudi King as a “contingency fund” to aid Barisan Nasional during the 2013 general election. — theedgemarkets.com

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