(From Reuters)
Malaysia’s anti-graft agency had recommended that Prime Minister Najib Razak be charged with criminal misappropriation, a source said on Wednesday, amid growing outrage after the premier was cleared of any offences in a multi-million-dollar scandal.
The attorney-general on Tuesday closed all investigations of Najib, after reviewing reports from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on a case that involved the transfer of $681 million into the prime minister’s personal bank account.
But a source at the MACC said that, when it handed its findings to the attorney-general last month, the agency had recommended Najib to be charged for criminal misappropriation.
“It’s a pretty straightforward case. We had made recommendations for charges to be filed that the attorney-general has instead chosen to reject,” said the source, who declined to be identified or to elaborate on MACC’s findings.
The attorney-general’s office was not immediately available for comment.
MACC said in a statement it would seek a review of the decision and declined to make any further public comment on the attorney-general’s findings.
Najib has been buffeted for months by allegations of graft at the debt-laden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad and by revelations of the mysterious transfer of funds, adding to a sense of crisis in a country under economic duress from slumping oil prices and a sliding currency. Read More