Dr M says Najib won’t quit, fears ‘facing criminal charge’

In a video clip uploaded to a blog, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is seen telling his audience why he feels Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will not quit. – The Malaysian Insider pic, June 21, 2015.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has unleashed another scathing attack against Datuk Seri Najib Razak, saying that it is likely that the prime minister's refusal to step down was because he fears being hauled up to court.

In a video uploaded on a blog, Din Turtle today, the former prime minister, in a forum held at the Perdana Leadership Foundation said that as long as Najib remains in power, the country will deteriorate and remain unstable.

"I have given advice, I have even threatened but he said he won't quit,

"And because he can't quit, I think he is scared. Maybe he might face a criminal charge, if he quits," he said.

This, he said, was related to the RM42 billion debt incurred by struggling state investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

"Where did the money go? He can say that it is for investments but there is no proof... apart from buying lands at a cheap price and power plants at higher prices," he said.

"There are so many wrongdoings... and because of that I feel that if Najib continues to stay in power, the country will deteriorate, will be in trouble and unstable and no longer a place where we can live comfortably," he said.

Dr Mahathir said that was one of the reasons why he annnounced months ago that Najib should resign but lamented that there are still many who do not undertand the issues surrounding 1MDB.

"It's hard to imagine RM1 billion...  even RM1 million, the Malays have yet to see. That is why many just take things easy and brushed it off," he said.

Dr Mahathir's comment echoed that of an interview he gave to The New York Times last week where he was quoted as saying that what Najib is doing is verging on criminal.

He was asked by the US daily on his criticism of 1MDB, the “lavish” lifestyle of Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and the troubling questions about the murder of Mongolian woman Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Dr Mahathir has been relentlessly criticising 1MDB and Najib, who is also finance minister and chairman of the 1MDB advisory board.

In the video today, he also reminded the Malays that if the community failed to educate themselves on the issues at hand, they will lose out in future to other races, similar to those in Singapore and southern Thailand.

In response to the NYT report, Minister of Foreign Affairs Datuk Seri Anifah Aman slammed Dr Mahathir for allegedly undermining Najib.

Anifah, in an open letter, said it was regrettable to see the former PM seeking to undermine his own country in the international media as "part of a personal political vendetta".

He also said that allegations of Najib's acts "verging on criminal" are simply outrageous, and entirely false.

"It is telling that he continues to mount his attacks, rather than wait for the findings of the enquiries currently being undertaken by Malaysia's Auditor-General, and parliament's bipartisan Public Accounts Committee.

"This shows that Mahathir is not interested in answers from the appropriate lawful authorities, but rather, he is just using 1MDB as an excuse to topple the serving prime minister," he said in the letter.