Ex-Premier Najib Razak is at it again. He repeated a previous remark that he knows nothing about money from the state fund appearing in his personal account to Reuters yesterday.
He also told Reuters that “he shouldn’t be blamed for the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB scandal.”
In the interview to Reuters, he laid down what appears to be his strategy whenever he will hit the courtroom to answer to the crimes he is accused of.
At the beginning of the affair, Najib reportedly said he was not aware there were huge amounts of money transferred into his private banking account.
When the story became untenable and people started questioning their trusts toward him, the ex-PM reacted with “I never took any of the money for my personal use,” thus admitting in a subtle manner he had received a huge amount of money in fact in his account.
It was the reaction of a man who was apparently shocked that the whole world had access to information that was not supposed to be made public.
But that was not the opinion of the Sarawak Report or the Wall Street Journal editors. They got the story, they published the entire documentation on their websites.
Najib could not hide anymore. But he used what seemed to be another apparent ruse to try to get away from the scandal.
He then said the money was given to him as a donation. the donation came from a Saudi Arabian prince he said. The Prince, the Malaysian anti-Corruption Agency or MACC recently said could never support his donation with relevant documents.
In the Reuters interview yesterday, Najib said the following:
“I’m not a party to the yacht, the paintings…I’ve never seen those paintings whatsoever,” said Najib.
“I was not aware of these purchases. This was done without my knowledge.
“I would never authorize 1MDB funds to be used for any of these items. I’ve been in government so long, I know what’s right and what’s wrong.”
These statements indicate that Najib is not going to fight it solo in the courts, but he will not associate himself with who he is now alleging as the ‘wrongdoers’.
But the Malaysian government case is bound to be one where all the actors of the 1MDB will be considered as the guilty party.
Najib’s attempt to break himself away as the man who did nothing but sign 1MDB checks without knowing what they were, will probably be his main defence course.
And in the interview held at a luxurious sea-facing private villa in a five-star hotel on the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi, he blamed 1MDB’s board, saying it was incumbent upon them to tell him if something was wrong.
Najib gave the interview while he was relaxing in a black t-shirt and brown pants, Najib said he was enjoying golf, food, and time with his family who is said to have booked the villa to celebrate Eid holidays together.