PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said Islam dictates that these four witnesses are necessary to validate the newspaper’s report last week which claimed that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from state investor 1MDB had been channelled to Najib’s private accounts. — Picture by Saw Siow Feng

KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — International business daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) needs to provide at least four trustworthy witnesses to back its graft allegations against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said.

Citing the same position his party took in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case, Hadi said Islam dictates that these four witnesses are necessary to validate the newspaper’s report last week which claimed that some US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) from state investor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had been channelled to Najib’s private accounts.

“Our stand is the stand of Islam. If four witnesses are needed for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s case, then it is the same with the allegations against Najib, there has to be witnesses...fair witnesses.

“We follow the fundamentals of Islam, what is good we support, what is not we oppose,” Hadi was quoted saying in Astro Awani today after performing tarawih prayers at a Ramadan event in Kota Baru.

According to an Utusan Malaysia report, however, Abdul Hadi had said there should be two, not four, witnesses to prove WSJ’s allegations.

The PAS president also reportedly denied that his comments meant the party had changed its tune to support Umno and Barisan Nasional.

“We are consistent in preventing current affairs from burdening the public. I don’t want the public to be sacrificed, let change happen through the right process,” he was quoted in the Malay daily as saying.

On Friday, the WSJ reported that 1MDB investigators have discovered five separate deposits from two sources that were allegedly made into Najib’s accounts, citing government documents that it claimed to have viewed.

The largest two transactions, it said, were for US$621 million (RM2.3 billion) and US$61 million allegedly made in March 2013, shortly before the tumultuous Election 2013 in May.

A further transfer of RM42 million, purportedly made into Najib’s account at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, is believed to have come from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that was in 2012 parked under the Finance Ministry that Najib heads, WSJ said.

The exposé led to immediate calls for a thorough investigation by opposition leaders, who also demanded that Najib be relieved from his duty until the probe is over.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail announced Saturday a special task force is currently investigating the alleged money trail that involves several companies that purportedly channeled the funds to Najib’s bank accounts, including SRC International, Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd and Gandingan Mentari Sdn Bhd.