Najib Razak arrest: Former Malaysian PM urges fans not to believe in reports
Kuala Lumpur, July 4 (IBNS): Disgraced Malaysian politician and the country's former Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who was arrested on Tuesday by the authorities, after an investigation found him guilty of embezzling state funds, has urged his fans not to believe all the reports they hear.
In a video message posted on Twitter ahead of his arrest, Najib has said that he was never given a chance to tell his side of the story.
However, the former Prime Minister was later released on bail amounting to 1m Malaysian ringgit (USD 250,000), after he pleaded not guilty to all counts, involving three of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power.
Najib's downward spiral hit a new low on Tuesday, when he was dragged to the court, just two months after losing the seat to his once mentor, Mahathir Mohamed.
Najib has been accused of siphoning USD 700 million from the state development fund 1MDB, which he set up in 2009.
1MDB was meant to turn Kuala Lumpur, the capital, into a financial hub, but received negative reactions in 2015 after defaulting payments worth USD 11 billions it owed to banks and other shareholders.
While Najib has maintained that he isn't part of any foulplay, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had reported that it had seen a paper trail that traced close to USD 700 million from IMDB to the former Prime Minister's personal bank accounts.
Prime Minister Mahathir during his campaign had promised to open the investigations against Najib if voted to power. According to political commentators, this played a key role in the former's win in the general election, which took place a few months ago.
After the investigations were re-opened, police recovered millions in luxury goods and cash, following multiple raids across Najib and his wife's properties.
One such raid yielded USD 273 million. It is said to be the biggest in Malaysian history.
Image: twitter.com/NajibRazak
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