WILL SHE TELL THE TRUTH: Najib man tells Zeti to clear the air for 'Najib's sake'

Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz must clear Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing as he is being accused of manipulating his power and position to further his political and financial interests, said Umno division leader Syed Ali Alhabshee.

"Zeti is widely respected for her work. And she must stand up for the prime minister, who has repeatedly slammed the smear campaign mounted against him (as an attempt) to tarnish his good image and prematurely end his political career," he added.

Bank Negara has remained silent since the Wall Stree Journal reported last week that US$700 million of 1MDB funds were purported channeled into Najib's personal bank accounts in AmBank.

The central bank should have raised the red flag if there were such large transfers of money into the accounts.

The WSJ report led to the calls for Najib to step down growing louder but the prime minister denied any wrongdoing and blamed the report as being part of the political sabotage against him.

Ambank must break silence

Syed Ali

Similarly, Syed Ali also urged AmBank to break its silence.

"As this is a matter of public interest and involves the alleged mishandling of a sovereign fund, AmBank also has a moral obligation, to the people of Malaysia, to divulge whether such transactions took place.

"AmBank, therefore, must make a public denial about huge amounts of cash from 1MDB ending up in Najib's accounts," he said in his blog.

Syed Ali conceded that WSJ report is "rather damning", as it "takes a whack at our prime minister's credibility to lead the nation and is a slur on the image of a sovereign nation."

"And therefore the WSJ, which claims the article is a result of the investigation by a Malaysian task force, must make the report public.

"That is what I call responsible journalism," he added.

Syed Ali said while the WSJ is adamant about standing behind its article, which it claims to be based on facts and figures, Malaysians are yet to see the report by the local investigators.

In this regard, he said Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail, who acknowledges having seen the investigation papers and concluding report, must also issue a directive to make the report public, to dismiss all allegations against Najib.

"As such, the WSJ, attorney-general, Bank Negara and AmBank have a duty to make documents public, if there are any, as the prime minister cannot be made a pawn in a political game to serve the interests of his opponents," he added. - M'kini