The Petaling Jaya Utara MP was responding to the claim by Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) director-general Mohd Puad Zarkashi that Najib got the green light from former Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz to accept the funds in 2013.
In a statement today, Pua also wanted to know if Bank Negara “diligently verified” the information on the source of funds.
He said even if the “stories” that the RM2.6 billion was a donation were to be believed, it was still a breach of the Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2011 (AMLA).
This is because a “donation” could come from illegal and illicit sources via complex money laundering mechanisms, he added.
Hence, Pua said Bank Negara must confirm if Najib was ever investigated and cleared under AMLA.
The DAP National Publicity Secretary also took the Central Bank to task, claiming it had only scratched the surface of the 1MDB scandal.
He said the central bank had made a hue and cry about 1MDB illegally transferring RM1.83 billion overseas and demanded for the money to be repatriated immediately, only for it to end with a whimper when the bank slapped an undisclosed amount of fine on 1MDB, which the latter had since paid.
It was also a shame that Bank Negara had failed to come down hard on 1MDB when foreign authorities, including in Singapore and Switzerland, had done so, Pua said.
Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the donation case, and Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali has cleared the premier of any criminal misconduct.
Earlier today, Bank Negara said it would not reopen investigations into 1MDB in the wake of Singapore’s BSI Bank being told to close down by the country’s authorities.
Bank Negara Governor Muhammad Ibrahim said as far as Bank Negara was concerned, its investigations into 1MDB were complete according to the rules and regulations under its jurisdiction, following 1MDB’s payment of a compound to the central bank.