Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohmad laments that the country's reputation is now in shambles over scandals plaguing Najib Abdul Razak, and he described attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali's declaration that the prime minister is innocent as meaningless.

"To clear Malaysia’s good name and his own, Najib must prove beyond a shadow of doubt that he is innocent of all the accusations against him.

"The attorney-general saying he is innocent means nothing. He, the attorney-general has no credibility," Mahathir said in a blog posting today.

He added that if Najib failed to do so, he should resign, along with all those who have abused their authority to save the prime minister.

"Malaysia must be freed from a prime minister with such a bad reputation if it is to regain its reputation," he said.

Mahathir ( photo ) said Malaysia used to be admired for raising itself from an impoverished Third World country into a stable, industrialised country, but today it faces embarrassing questions abroad.

"They asked these questions because reputable foreign newspapers publish stories about 1MDB, about the prime minister having appropriated for himself billions of dollars, about huge amounts of money in his private accounts, about his lavish lifestyle.

"No Malaysian prime minister can afford the grand wedding that he had for his daughter," he said.

Mahathir added that Najib's claim that the RM2.6 billion discovered in his personal bank accounts was a donation has left the world laughing.

"All these and more have given Malaysia a bad name. Najib’s name is even worse.

"Malaysians are generally ashamed of these things and the role of their prime minister in these scandals," he said.