In a Facebook post tonight, the Pekan MP said he was doing so in order to clear his name from various allegations and defamatory statements accusing him of laundering money, and given the Saudi monarch’s recent passing in 2015.
According to Najib, the ruler had agreed to financially support his party shortly after the Arab Spring in 2010, but did not want the issue to be made public, just as when he had agreed to increase to 20,000 the quota of Haj pilgrims from Malaysia.
“Due to his concerns (of the possibility of there being a Malaysia Spring given its status as an Islamic country) and our close relationship, in early 2011 he promised to provide funds to me and the party,” Najib said.
He had also posted pictures of the bank documents on the matter.
One of these documents is a letter from the private office of Saud Abdulaziz Majid al-Saud granting the US$100 million sum to Najib who has the “absolute discretion to determine how the gift shall be utilised” to “promote Islam so it continues to flourish”.
This was the first of many, Najib said, with similar letters affirming similar donations from the Saudis in the years that followed.
“On 1 Feb 2011, Prince Abdulaziz Al-Saud wrote to me telling me that Saudi Arabia would provide US$100 million for me in 2011.
“SWIFT money transfer documents for 2011 show that US$20 million was transferred from the account of Faisal bin Turki bin Al Saud’s account and US$80 million was transferred from the Saudi Ministry of Finance’s account to me.
“Therefore, the Saudi Arabian foreign ministry has twice publicly confirmed that their government has contributed to me unconditionally,” Najib said.
Najib said he and his lawyer took quite some time to get hold of these documents, but managed to get the bulk of it for the 2011 donations.
Najib stressed that these funds were only used to further Barisan Nasional’s political agenda, saying that a portion of this particular Saudi donation was given to Johor Umno to purchase vans.
“Unfortunately, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has recently seized these vans,” he said.
Najib also touched on the recent move by PH to close the Saudi-backed King Salman Centre for International Peace, which was first proposed following a visit by Saudi monarch Salman Abdul Aziz to Malaysia last year during Najib’s administration.
He said prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was disappointed when Saudi Arabia declined to comment on whether the infamous RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts were a donation from their coffers.
“But a month later, the PH government shut down the centre in Kuala Lumpur.”
Former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein had defended the centre, saying it was crucial to curbing the spread of extremism and militant ideologies, including by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Critics have, nonetheless, questioned Malaysia’s partnership with Saudi Arabia to fight terrorism, highlighting Riyadh’s military and ideological role worldwide, in view of its official doctrine of Wahhabism, which is said to inspire the IS ideology.
Najib, however, said he would soon speak out about the RM2.6 billion and where it originated from.
“In future Facebook status or through interviews with the media where I can explain in more detail and show proof, I will also explain the contributions I received for the years following 2011 – including the issue of the RM2.6 billion,” Najib said.
Mahathir was previously reported as saying that there was no proof to neither confirm nor deny that the RM2.6 billion had originated from Saudi Arabia.
The donation, which was first reported some three years ago by The Wall Street Journal, sent the country into a flurry over Najib’s alleged role in money laundering from the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fund.
Analysts said this, and Najib’s refusal to answer queries on the issue, was what eventually led Najib’s BN coalition to lose to PH in the 14th general election.