Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is confused over his reference to Universiti Islam Malaysia (UIM) and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) in an attempt to take a potshot at him.

Najib had criticised Lim's defence of a RM6 million allocation to New Era College, Southern University College and Han Chiang College.

The former prime minister also said Lim's comparison of those colleges to the RM15 million allocation to UIAM was nonsensical, pointing out that the three were private institutions while UIAM was a public university.

However, Lim said he never referred to UIAM and that the RM15 million was for UIM, which is also a private entity.

"Najib is again mistaken as UIM is a non-profit private college based in Cyberjaya.

"He appears to have been confused and do not know that UIM is different from UIAM.

"It is regretful that he does not know the difference between UIM and UIAM despite having been in the government and served in Putrajaya for more than 20 years," Lim said in a statement today.

Lim said Najib should apologise for the mistake, but added that he was sceptical if that would happen as Najib thinks that he "can do no wrong".

He likened this to Najib's insistence that he had not done any wrong in the 1MDB scandal.

"Even Goldman Sachs has apologised but Najib is still being stubborn and insists that he had not done anything wrong and refused to apologise," he said.

Goldman Sachs was responsible for arranging three bonds from 1MDB, which were subsequently misappropriated.

The US Department of Justice believed at least US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB and Najib is facing criminal charges in Malaysia over the matter.

Najib had denied wrongdoing or taking public funds for personal gain.