Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad has ridiculed attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's explanation that monies found in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's bank accounts were donations from foreign royalty.

“I think the attorney-general is under the control of the subject of the investigation, the prime minister,” the UK's Financial Times quoted him as saying.

The publication also reported that Mahathir has dismissed Apandi's explanation as “a lot of nonsense” and vowed to “continue to expose the wrong things that he (Najib) has done”.

The Financial Times article quoting Mahathir titled 'Malaysia stifles dissent as public unrest grows' published today is the second recent article in the business publication to put Malaysia under a critical microscope.

The Financial Times also published another article on Jan 27, titled 'The threat Najib poses to Malaysia's reputation', labelling Najib's 1MDB and 'donation' scandal as disastrous for Malaysia's image.

The publication's article was refuted by the Malaysian envoy to the UK who questioned its veracity and reasoning.

The Financial Times is the second foreign business publication to target Najib, the first being The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which had followed up on and dug up evidence on the allegations against Najib involving 1MDB and the monies he admitted were deposited into his personal accounts.

The WSJ has published several articles on the matter and has stood by its claims despite Najib's lawyers threatening to sue them. To date, no law suits have been forthcoming.

Najib has continued denying any wrongdoing and has been cleared from culpability by Apandi who declined to prosecute on two investigation papers sent in by MACC.