25 Apr 2024, 13:13 Kuching
25 Apr 2024, 06:13 London
Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said yesterday he had met the wealthy Arab family who had donated the US$700 million (S$985 million) channelled into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal accounts, The Star reported.
Datuk Seri Zahid said the family, whom he did not name, had donated the money because of Malaysia’s commitment to fighting terrorism, and for being a moderate Muslim country with a plural society.
The family, he said, was impressed by how Malaysia managed to remain moderate without sidelining other religions.
“Those were the answers given to me when I asked them the reason for their donation. They also told me that Malaysia was not the only country they have donated money to,” The Star quoted him as saying at the opening of the Sri Gading Umno division meeting yesterday.
“They have also helped other Islamic countries,” Mr Zahid, who is also Home Minister, added.
He also said he had met the investment officer of the family, who explained how the first US$100 million was given via a cheque under Datuk Seri Najib’s name and the rest through other channels.
“I saw the documents myself – the original documents, not photocopied ones, and I also saw the money trail,” he added.
Mr Zahid said the donation was 100 per cent from the Arab family and not from the Retirement Fund or 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Is this a cheque for US$100,000,000?
Zahid, the newbie Deputy PM, has offered yet another completely new explanation for Najib’s billion dollar “donation”. It was not after all for fighting ISIL which, as has been pointed out, did not exist when the money reached Najib.
Now we are told it was a reward for Malaysia being a good moderate Muslim state, which kindly allows other religions to exist within its borders.
Better still, Zahid tells us that he “had seen the cheque for the first $100,000,000″! Does he not know that NO ONE ever writes a cheque for such an amount?
Really big money is always moved by bank transfer electronically from one account to another. In this case all Malaysians have already seen the actual bank transfer form for the full amount – a fact no longer denied by Najib.
This first Telegraphic Transfer (TT) was followed by another US$61 million TT… so where does the US$100 million ‘cheque’ come in?
Zahid went on to say that the balance of the money came by other means but does not say how. He could reflect on the announcement by Saudi Arabia that it has donated US$100 million to the UN to combat ISIS.
So Arabia’s richest nation pays the UN US$100 million and some other Middle Eastern family pays Malaysia US$681 million!
Najib has explained that he prefers loyalty over brains, but there are advantages and disadvantages to promoting fools.
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