Transparency International Malaysia today distanced itself from its former president Tunku Abdul Aziz who accused former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of 'inventing' the 1MDB financial scandal.

"TI-M wishes to put on record that it is not associated with the statements made by Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim and his opinions expressed regarding the current financial scandal allegations and his dispute with Dr Mahathir on these issues.  

"To reiterate, the opinions expressed by Tunku Aziz do not reflect the stance of TI-Malaysia and are entirely his own personal sentiments," said TI-M's current president Akhbar Satar.

TI-M's statement came after Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak used the same argument last Friday after The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published allegations that he had embezzled US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) in state funds related to 1MDB.

"I believe Tun (Mahathir), working hand-in-glove with foreign nationals, including the now discredited political attack blog Sarawak Report, is behind this latest lie," Najib had said in the statement.

Not a member

In May, Tunku Abdul Aziz ( photo ), who is now an member of the MACC advisory board had claimed the 1MDB crisis was an invention of Mahathir.

Tunku Abdul Aziz also accused the former prime minister of bigger corruption scandals when he was in power.

Akhbar said that while Tunku Abdul Aziz was the first chief of TI-M, he no longer has any relations with the organisation.

"TI-Malaysia can confirm that whilst Tunku Aziz was the first president of the TI-Malaysia, he is no longer a TI member nor actively involved with the organisation," said Akhbar.