Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali assured Malaysians that Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor are still in the country. ― Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali assured Malaysians that Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor are still in the country.

He said the former prime minister and his wife were just taking a holiday in the island resort off Kedah, amid public concern that both may have gone abroad while the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have yet to wrap up investigations on the duo’s involvement in suspected money laundering crimes in 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“They just went for holiday and are currently staying in St Regis Hotel, Langkawi.

“They are still not allowed to leave the country,” Mustafar said in a text reply to Malay Mail when contacted.

He said Najib’s arrival in Langkawi was verified by the Kedah Immigration Department director Zuhair Jamaludin.

He also dismissed claims that Najib and his family were attempting to flee the country by running to neighbouring Thailand through Langkawi.

“Not true,” Mustafar said when asked.

Pictures of Najib and Rosmah and several trolleys load of luggage at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor and later at the Langkawi International Airport in Kedah started spreading through the internet on social media platforms yesterday.

Several Malaysians expressed alarm when a Facebook user claimed to have spotted Najib near the hallway for international departures.

Both Najib and Rosmah have mostly kept to their mansion in Taman Duta here in the past one month after the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition lost federal power in the May 9 general election.

In the early days after the BN electoral defeat, Najib has said he and Rosmah had planned to fly to Indonesia for a short holiday and for self-reflection, but were thwarted when the Immigration put them on the no-fly list.