The former prime minister was referring to a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) which said Chinese officials had tried to persuade countries to drop their investigations into the troubled state firm.

It said the US$16 billion (RM65.8 billion) East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and US$2.5 billion Trans Sabah Gas Pipeline were meant to appear market-driven in nature, following revelations of billions being siphoned from 1MDB.

This is despite their true aim to “shore up Najib Razak’s government, settle the 1MDB debts and deepen Chinese influence in Malaysia”, the paper, which broke the 1MDB story back in July 2015, reported.

Najib’s six counter-arguments are as follows:

1. On the allegation that China offered to bail out 1MDB, Najib, who was the chairman of 1MDB’s board of advisers before it was dissolved, said this never happened and was reported by the WSJ itself.

He said Malaysia has already pledged to regain the lost money from 1MDB, as signed in two separate agreements with Abu-Dhabi owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), by Dec 31, 2020.

2. On the claim that China offered to use its influence on the US and other countries to drop their investigations into 1MDB, Najib pointed out that the WSJ report said 1MDB investigations are still under way in those countries.

3. On the allegation that gas pipeline projects awarded to China were meant to appear market-driven in nature, Najib said so far there had been no allegation that the project had an exorbitant price tag.

“The Trans-Sabah Pipeline project that was awarded to a Chinese company in 2016 covering a distance of 662km was worth RM4.06 billion,” the Pekan MP explained.

“For comparison, the 500km long Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline project, awarded to a consortium from India in 2008, was completed at a cost of RM4.6 billion,” he said on Facebook.

4. On a claim that he had embarked on secret talks with Chinese authorities to let Chinese navy ships dock at Malaysian ports, Najib said Malaysia is a neutral country.

“Military ships from any country are entitled and often dock in Malaysian ports. This is a policy that was implemented decades ago. This includes warships from the United States and Russia.”

5. On an allegation that China launched surveillance on the homes and offices of journalists in Hong Kong investigating 1MDB, Najib said this never happened as the WSJ writers had admitted.

The WSJ had cited the head of China’s domestic security force at the time, Sun Lijun, as confirming in a meeting on June 29, 2016 that the Chinese government was maintaining surveillance on these individuals.

But the report said it is unknown whether China did in fact provide information on the journalists although Sun supposedly said this “wealth of data” will be handed over to Malaysia through back-channels.

6. Najib also denied the accusation that the ECRL awarded to Chinese companies at RM55 billion was incredibly high, saying Pakatan Harapan had often made such claims but could never support this.

“In 2012 and 2013, local media reported that the cost for the ECRL project was estimated at between RM50 billion and RM70 billion,” he said, adding the figure of RM30 billion was based on a 2009 study.

“It was only for a distance of 545km. It was then extended to 620km. The alignment was also changed to become more efficient and to avoid excessive use of public land and required the construction of a 50km tunnel across the Titiwangsa Range.”

Najib said business is always a two-way street, saying that after the ECRL and pipeline projects were awarded in 2016 to Chinese companies, there was a surge in palm oil and rubber exports to China from Malaysia.

“In my opinion, Malaysia needs to be careful to prevent the country from being involved in geopolitics between the two superpowers, only based on media reports.

“Don’t simply accuse other countries as it would be detrimental to these countries.”

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has since said Putrajaya will pursue the matter if it is true that 1MDB debts were factored into the cost of the ECRL and gas pipeline projects, adding he was unaware of whether such a deal had been brokered.

According to the WSJ, minutes from Sept 22, 2016 showed that both sides — Beijing and Putrajaya — agreed to move ahead with the deals despite their potential lack of “strong project financials”.

The documents added that participants need not “waste time studying the actual project financials to see if they can sustain the debts, etc” as the Malaysian government would back the deal for strategic reasons.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who led the Pakatan Harapan coalition to victory in the May 9 general election last year, put the Chinese projects on hold.

In a recent interview with Sin Chew Daily, he said the projects might be downsized with China’s agreement.

He added that Putrajaya was still negotiating the issue with Beijing, with no deadlines set by either party.

Najib currently faces multiple charges of money laundering, criminal breach of trust, and abuse of power in relation to 1MDB.

Earlier, news reports said the Chinese embassy and fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, whose name has been mired in the 1MDB scandal, had denounced the WSJ report.

The Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur said it does not accept “any groundless” accusations.

Low, better known as Jho Low, claimed the WSJ article did not paint a full picture of the matter and the WSJ was continuing Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “trial by media” without adducing evidence against him.