Najib referred to several news reports of a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation involving Perak PKR deputy chairman MA Tinagaran, who was arrested for graft last month.

“YB (Xavier) was linked to the MACC case where his good friend was arrested for a case, in which RM1.2 million in cash was seized, RM77 million in bank accounts were frozen and several luxury cars confiscated.

“This is last month’s news, maybe his resignation has nothing to do with it,” Najib said.

Last month, Tinagaran was detained by MACC on suspicion of accepting bribes from several companies for a project awarded to it by the water, land and natural resources ministry in 2019 when Xavier was at its helm.

MACC had said the man arrested was linked to him but Xavier then clarified that Tinagaran was just “a close family friend” and not his aide, as previously reported.

Xavier announced his resignation from PKR this morning, saying he would continue to serve his constituency and support the current government as an independent MP.

The Kuala Langat MP’s resignation comes after two other PKR elected representatives, Julau MP Larry Sng and Tebrau MP Steven Choong, quit the party last month and declared their support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.