Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has joined calls for former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz and her family to be probed over allegedly receiving 1MDB funds.
He said an investigation into the allegation would be important to determine the truth whether Zeti was ever involved in the global-scale controversy.
“When I was the prime minister (the first time around) there was no problem (involving BNM).
“This only happened after I resigned and (Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) was the prime minister.
“This was when all these allegations involving Zeti and her family happened, that they had taken 1MDB money.
“This matter must be investigated so that we can find out the truth whether Zeti was involved in this ‘perbuatan curang (transgression)’,” he said during a press conference today.
He joins a long list of politicians and activists who have called for Zeti and her family to be probed, especially after it was confirmed that RM65 million of 1MDB-linked funds were held by a company belonging to her husband Tawfiq Ayman.
Former banker Tim Leissner told a US court recently that BNM approved an “overnight” foreign exchange transfer of US$1 billion from 1MDB to PetroSaudi International (PSI) after Zeti’s husband had allegedly been bribed to “make it happen”.
Tawfiq has denied Leissner’s allegations.
Zeti was the BNM governor at the time the alleged overnight transaction was made.