Mahathir behind latest WSJ revelation against Najib?

Asian Sentinel believes claim that US$700 million entered Najib’s personal bank account “could be the final blow” to bring PM down.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad may be behind the blockbuster claim by both the Wall Street Journal and whistle-blower web portal Sarawak Report widely circulating today that funds to the tune of nearly US$700 million from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) were diverted into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank accounts in March 2013, reports the Asian Sentinel (AS).

AS notes that this is the first time that Najib has been personally connected to alleged “irregularities” in 1MDB’s financials.

It claims that the revelation “could be the final blow to bring down a leader who has been bullet proof from years of charges against his integrity” and that Mahathir’s “two-year crusade” to “drive Najib from office and put him in jail” might now well succeed.

“Najib has withstood a continuing barrage of difficult questions about the fund for more than two years, blaming political enemies and repeatedly rounding up the divisional warlords of UMNO to back him,” the report reads.

Ominously, however, AS believes that Mahathir has more information, including evidence of further movement of funds and even information about the mysterious death of Altantuya Shaariibuu.

The report also cites UMNO’s recent decision to postpone party elections as a bid “to forestall any challenge from Mahathir’s forces in the party.”

It claims that Xavier Justo’s recent arrest in Thailand was “closely orchestrated” by PetroSaudi, and that accusations that he had tampered with documents “to make them more damaging” are thought to be “part of a move by Najib to discredit Mahathir before he could feed more documents and evidence to the press.”

“Najib’s forces know what Mahathir has and are seeking to discredit him, (Sarawak Report’s Clare Rewcastle-Brown) and The Edge Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur-based financial publication, which has aggressively pursued the 1MDB story,” AS reports.

It claims that government-controlled media is being used for this purpose.