The Wall Street Journal’s allegations against Malaysia have been proven to be lies, this time by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s press aide.

Tengku Shariffuddin Tengku Ahmad noted how the publication alleged that Goldman Sachs wired US$3 billion in proceeds of a 1MDB bond issuance to BSI Bank in Singapore, and that some of these funds were later transferred to the prime minister.

However, he said the Monetary Authority of Singapore revealed that no bank in Singapore received the US$3 billion wire transfer from Goldman Sachs in relation to the bond issuance for 1MDB.

“Despite the gravity of their allegations, the WSJ gave no evidence at all to support their claims – as is now standard process in their Malaysia reporting.

“In a cowardly tactic to avoid being sued, the WSJ attributes all its allegations to anonymous sources, such as ‘people familiar with the matter’ and unnamed ‘investigators’,” he added in a media statement.

Tengku Shariffuddin said these sources might or might not exist, or could be the proxies of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He argued that Malaysians had no way of knowing the truth since the WSJ refused to name a single source.

“Every week more of the WSJ’s allegations and anonymous sources are proven to be lies.

“Such as the WSJ alleging that the prime minister was not interviewed by Malaysian investigators, when he was interviewed for multiple hours on Dec 5, 2015.

“Or the WSJ’s multiple reports that the prime minister had appointed Irwan Serigar Abdullah to be the new governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, when this was entirely false,” he said.

Tengku Shariffuddin also claimed it was clear that the WSJ had abandoned all pretence at independent reporting on Malaysia.

“By presenting the unverified lies of the government’s opponents as facts, the WSJ has become their willing tool – in their openly declared campaign to unseat a democratically elected government, using 1MDB as an excuse.

“It should be investigated why the WSJ is publishing so many proven lies about one country, and why an international newspaper is taking sides in Malaysia’s internal affairs,” he added.

Najib has repeatedly denied the allegations against him, blaming them on Mahathir and those conspiring to topple him from power.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.