Did RM2.6b come from one or more donors?

Blogger Shahbudin sees a contradiction between statements made by Apandi and the DPM.

KUALA LUMPUR: Political analyst Shahbudin Husin has challenged Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to respond to Attorney-General Apandi Ali’s statement about the source of the RM2.6 billion donated to Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Shahbudin, in his latest blog entry, noted that Apandi’s statement contradicted Zahid’s assertion that there was more than one donor.
“Zahid is the one who has talked the most about the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts,” he said.

He recalled Zahid categorically saying that it was “not singular but plural” in reference to the source of the donation.

However, added the analyst, the AG claimed in his statement on Tuesday that USD620 million or most of the money had since been returned by Najib to the Saudi royal family in August 2013.

“International media reports speculated that this refers to King Abdullah, the supposed donor who died in January 2015,” he said. “So, what does Zahid have to say now about his ‘not singular but plural’ statement in December last year, given the latest information as provided by the AG on Tuesday?”

Shahbudin also recalled that Zahid disclosed in August 2015 – not long after he took over from Muhyiddin Yassin as Deputy Prime Minister – that he had met with the Chief Investment Officer and the Trustee of the donor’s family.

However, he pointed out that last December, on the sidelines of the Umno annual general assembly, Zahid said that the RM2.6 billion wasn’t from one person but from more than one source. “It’s not singular, he said, but plural, in referring to the benefactors.”