By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
Sacked deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin claims that Prime Minister Najib Razak admitted receiving $700 million in his personal accounts in a video uploaded to YouTube Wednesday afternoon.
Yassin says in the leaked video taken in his residence on Tuesday night that Razak admitted to him in a private conversation that he had received $700 million in funds from the Middle East.
Reports claim that the video was taken moments before Yassin was dropped from his job in a major cabinet reshuffle.
"I asked him [Razak] from whom [the money was received]. He did not mention the name, from somewhere in the Middle East. [I asked] how much?... he said 'a lot, a lot.'"
The Wall Street Journal has claimed that a report shows that $700 million (2.67 billion ringgit) of funds from debt-ridden state firm 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB)-linked firms were deposited into Razak's personal accounts.
Criticism has mounted of the finance ministry-owned investment firm, established in 2009, for raking debts of RM42 billion (almost $11.5 billion) in just six years of business.
"Then I asked why was it transferred to your accounts?... Why did it enter Najib Razak's accounts? How much money? [Razak said] $700 million. If you multiply that by three point something [Ringgit to dollar conversion rates]... 2.6 billion [Ringgit] goes into his personal account," Yassin claims.
He adds that "Najib admitted to this".
The video shows Yassin flanked by Kedah state chief minister Mukhriz Mahathir, the son of Razak's major critic and former premier Mahathir Mohamad.
Razak has blamed Mohamad -- Malaysia's longest serving prime minister who was in office for 29 years -- of orchestrating the allegations as "part of a concerted campaign of political sabotage to topple a democratically elected prime minister".
Mohammad has waged an aggressive campaign against Razak over the past months, focusing on his alleged mishandling of 1MDB.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal and Sarawak Report released reports quoting documents from the ongoing 1MDB probe claiming the $700 million moved among government agencies, banks and entities linked to 1MDB before finally ending up in the prime minister's personal accounts in five separate deposits.
Razak immediately said that he has never taken funds for personal gain, be it is from 1MDB, Finance Ministry-owned SRC International or other entities.
Days after the claim, Razak's legal team claimed that the WSJ article did not clarify whether the money reportedly deposited into the accounts was from debt-ridden 1MDB.
WSJ's publisher Dow Jones has said it stands by the facts and details of the article as it was based on concrete evidence obtained by the paper.
