KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s attorney general said Tuesday that nearly $700 million channeled into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s private accounts was a personal donation from Saudi Arabia’s royal family, and cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing.
The announcement capped months of uncertainty for Najib, who has come under intense pressure to resign over the financial scandal in his biggest political crisis since he took power in 2009.
But the announcement by Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali did not clear up the mystery over the money as he did not say why the Saudi royals made the donation to Najib or give details on what the money was to have been used for.
Apandi said investigations by the country’s anti-corruption agency showed that no criminal offence was committed as the $681 million transferred into Najib’s accounts between March and April 2013 was “given without any consideration” by the Saudi royal family as a personal donation.
He said Najib returned $620 million to the Saudi royal family in August 2013. He did not say what happened to the remaining $61 million.