Dr Mahathir Mohamad has roped Singapore into the RM2.6 billion donation issue after the attorney-general cleared Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing.
In a blog posting, the former prime minister noted how attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali said that Najib had returned RM2.03 billion back to the Saudi royal family in August 2013.
“How and when was this done?
“We are told the balance is frozen by Singapore. Can Singapore explain the unfreezing and the delivery back to the Saudis?
“Or does Singapore also believe in the free gift story, the letter and the Saudi admission?
“Singapore is a financial centre. Can it be so gullible?” Mahathir asked.
On July 22 last year, Reuters reported that Singapore police had frozen two bank accounts in connection with an investigation into alleged financial mismanagement and corruption at 1MDB.
"On July 15, 2015, we issued orders under the Criminal Procedure Code to prohibit any dealings in respect of money in two bank accounts that are relevant to the investigation," Singapore police had said in a statement.
However, the police did not identify the banks or the accounts in question because the investigation was still ongoing.
Malaysian authorities had claimed that the sum had originated from a Middle Eastern source and not from 1MDB, as some had alleged.
Yesterday, Apandi said investigations revealed that the RM2.6 billion was a donation from the Saudi royal family ahead of the general election in May 2013 and was given without strings attached.
'A letter from a deceased person not enough'
Meanwhile, Mahathir said there appeared to be a letter stating that the sum was for the prime minister to fight terrorism.
“Who is this Arab? How does he have a huge sum of money to give away? What is his business, what is his bank? How was the money transferred, what documents prove these?
“Just a letter from a deceased person or some nonentity is not enough...,” he said.
International news organisations have published conflicting versions of this donation issue, with an unnamed source telling BBC the money came from the late Saudi monarch, King Abdullah.
However, The Wall Street Journal in its report says that the Saudi Arabian ministries of finance and foreign affairs were in the dark.
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