Najib pays tribute to Pak Lah for support

Datuk Seri Najib Razak (pic) expressed gratitude to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for his ability to “let go” in his retirement and become supportive.

Not only did Mahathir’s relentless criticism of his successor result in Badawi resigning as prime minister, his current campaign to oust Najib which has been gaining worldwide attention has had the current Prime Minister on the back foot.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Government Linked Companies (GLC) Transformation Programme at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre today, Najib congratulated Abdullah, fondly known as Pak Lah, for launching the GLC Transformation Programme in 2004.

Najib said the party’s many divisions had benefited greatly from funding distributed under his leadership and criticised Umno members who failed to defend him from attacks by other quarters.

US-based paper the Wall Street Journal, citing official investigation papers, reported recently that RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money had been funneled into the prime minister’s account through some of the firm’s subsidiaries.

Dr Mahathir, the country’s longest serving prime minister, is Najib’s chief critic and has called for the latter’s resignation on several occasions.

The prime minister and Umno president said the MACC’s findings proved that the funds he received did not amount to corruption nor were they originally from 1Malaysia Development Bhd.