Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has likened the denial that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was involved in discharging Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz from 1MDB money laundering charges to the repeated denials that Muhyiddin wanted to become prime minister.

Mahathir said he was puzzled why the Prime Minister's Office had to issue a statement to deny that Muhyiddin had any role in the prosecution's decision to grant a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) to Riza, who is the stepson of Najib Abdul Razak, Umno's last prime minister.