KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police have arrested a former ruling party official who has traveled the globe to highlight corruption allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak, his lawyer said Saturday, accusing the government of seeking to silence the whistleblower.
Khairuddin Abu Hassan was arrested by police Friday after he was stopped from leaving for the United States where he was to meet with FBI officials, his lawyer Matthias Chang said.
He has been charged with plotting to “undermine parliamentary democracy,” a vague charge that critics have said is open to government abuse.
“They want to stop him traveling and maybe to intimidate him,” Chang said.
Police did not respond to requests for comment.
Najib’s government has moved to quash further scrutiny of the revelation in July that nearly $700 million was deposited into his personal bank accounts.
The government has called the money “political donations” from Middle Eastern sources but refuses to give more details.
Najib subsequently sacked his attorney general and deputy prime minister and made other personnel moves that appear to have stalled investigations.
Khairuddin, a former division head in the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO), has demanded transparency over the Najib funds as well as at state investment company 1MDB, which Najib launched.
Najib and the company are under fire over allegations that perhaps more than a billion dollars went missing from overseas deals involving 1MDB, which is now struggling under massive debts.
With no progress seen in Malaysian investigations, Khairuddin has recently traveled to Switzerland, Britain, France, and Hong Kong to highlight the case to authorities, Chang said.
Various foreign investigations have been launched.
A magistrate on Saturday ordered Khairuddin held for a week for investigations, Chang said.
The scandals have deeply tarnished Najib, a self-proclaimed reformer. He dismisses them as a conspiracy to unseat him.
Last month, tens of thousands of protesters paralyzed Kuala Lumpur with a two-day demonstration to demand Najib’s resignation and reform of Malaysia’s 58-year-old regime whose critics accuse it of repression, corruption and electoral chicanery to stay in power.
Whistleblower who targeted Premier Najib Razak arrested
Whistleblower who targeted Premier Najib Razak arrested
Lula spoke to Maduro as risks rise of Venezuela-US conflict
- Lula had not spoken to fellow leftist Maduro since Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election
- A source said the two leaders had a brief conversation last week about “peace in South America and the Caribbean“
BRASILIA: Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke by phone with Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro about “peace” in South America, the Brazilian presidency said Friday, as fears grow of conflict between Washington and Caracas.
President Donald Trump’s administration accuses Maduro of leading a drug trafficking cartel, and has carried out deadly strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats, seized an oil tanker and slapped sanctions on his relatives.
Lula, one of Latin America’s most influential leaders, had not spoken to fellow leftist Maduro since Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election, the results of which Brazil — along with much of the international community — did not recognize.
A source in the Brazilian presidency, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders had a brief conversation last week about “peace in South America and the Caribbean.”
However, the source said there was no intention on Lula’s part to “be a mediator” in the crisis between Washington and Caracas.
Fears are growing of open conflict between the US and Venezuela, after months of a US build-up of warships in the Caribbean and warnings from Trump that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered closed.
Trump told Politico on Monday that Maduro’s “days are numbered” and declined to rule out a US ground invasion of Venezuela.
Maduro says the United States is bent on regime change and wants to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves.
He is seeking to boost military recruitments, and the Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday.
Lula, 80, has succeeded in mending his own country’s fraught relations with Washington in recent months, making direct contact with Trump after a long dry spell.
In their latest phone call, Lula said he told Trump: “We do not want war in Latin America.”
According to the Brazilian president’s account, Trump replied: “But I have more weapons, more ships, more bombs.”
