Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has left people guessing where a further RM42 million deposited into his personal bank accounts came from after he admitted to receiving the money but did not reveal its source.
PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli is less than convinced by Najib's explanation, which he said implied the prime minister knew about receiving the RM42 million but somehow did not know where it came from.
"We have a prime minister that is either the luckiest person in the world, or a clown who thinks the public will buy his excuse that he did not know the source of that RM42 million," said Rafizi when contacted.
He questioned if Najib will now claim that the RM42 million is also a donation.
"I mean - what is the odd that a person within a short period of time received RM2.6 billion donation and then another anonymous donation into his account?" said Rafizi.
Najib had in August last year admitted to receiving RM2.6 billion into his personal bank accounts which he claimed was a political donation from the Middle East.
This was after The Wall Street Journal a month earlier reported about the deposits.
In the report, it claimed that two deposits of US$620 million and US$61 million were made into Najib's personal bank account in March 2013 from an offshore company Tanore Finance Corp which has since been closed.
The sum came to around RM2.6 billion based on the exchange rate when the report was first published in July last year.
However, the report had also highlighted separate deposits amounting to RM42 million originating from state-owned SRC International, which first passed through intermediaries Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd and Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd in December 2014.
‘Hiding behind technicality’
Najib has to date not publicly admitted to receiving the RM42 million until recently, in his written statement of reply to former MCA president Ling Liong Sik statement of defence in his defamation suit against Ling.
Ling had accused Najib of taking "people's money" and repeated the RM42 million allegation in his statement of defence.
Najib, in his reply, admitted to receiving the money but asked that Ling prove where it came from.
Rafizi charged that the prime minister is hiding behind the "technicality of court documents" to deny the link with SRC International.
"His bigger battle is to convince the public that he received an anonymous donation of RM42 million," he said.
Rafizi added that ultimately, what Najib said mattered very little now as the public wants to know how the damage he had inflicted on the country can be contained.
"This will be his lasting legacy," said Rafizi.
