Donation to Najib came from Saudi Arabia — BBC report

Mr Najib, the British-educated son of a former prime minister, has maintained the backing of powerful division chiefs in his party despite the escalating scandal that has engulfed his leadership for months, analysts say. This was five months after the transfer was made since the money has not been used.

Mohamed Apandi Ali said a review of evidence compiled by the country s anti-graft agency showed that the money received in 2013 was a “personal donation from the Saudi royal family”, giving no further information on the source.

Dow Jones reported that the AG also told the press conference that Najib returned $620 million of the cash to his Saudi donor as it “wasn’t utilized”.

Early previous year, a New York Times investigative report detailed multi-million-dollar purchases of luxury United States real estate by a close Najib family associate and alleged millions of dollars in jewellery purchases for Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Attorney General Apandi Ali ruled out any wrongdoings by Razak in receiving or spending the donation during the May 2013 general election due to “insufficient evidence” to implicate the premier.

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Najib’s fiercest critic, said in a blog that having so much money in Mr Najib’s accounts was wrong in itself, and the attorney-general’s role as both judge and prosecutor amounted to an injustice. “Based on the evidence from witnesses and supporting documents, I am satisfied no criminal offence has been committed in relation to the said ($681m) donation”.

The Saudis themselves have not helped the situation, with The Wall Street Journal quoting a Saudi official saying the kingdom’s government had no knowledge of the donation, adding such a royal gift would be “unprecedented”.

Mr. Najib and 1MDB strenuously deny wrongdoing, or that the $681 million came from 1MDB.

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency said Wednesday it will appeal the attorney general’s decision to clear Prime Minister Najib Razak of criminal charges over a $681 million financial scandal.

The top MACC management made this decision in a meeting on the matter today, the anti-graft body said in a statement today.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said in a brief statement it would “table the Attorney-General’s decision to the Operations Review Panel (PPO), an independent body formed by the government to monitor MACC’s progress… for evaluation and consideration as well as another special panel that will be appointed”.

Pua said Apandi provided no new or convincing information to support his decision.

Tuesday’s revelation was the latest twist in a long-running political scandal around Najib and the country’s ailing sovereign wealth fund Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), the advisory board of which the prime minister leads.

Separately, Apandi cleared Najib of two other allegations: abuse of power in approving a government guarantee on a 4 billion ringgit loan to SRC International, and receiving money from the state company in his personal accounts.

The source explained that it was “nothing unusual” for the Saudi royal family to give millions in “personal donations” as it had previously done so in Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan. No further details were available. It won in 2013, but lost the popular vote for the first time to an opposition alliance.