FORMER prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has rejected Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s claim that he had been sacked as the deputy prime minister in 2015 because he would not take part in the 1MDB scandal.
Najib was responding to the Prime Minister’s final national address yesterday afternoon whereby Muhyiddin recounted that he was sacked as the deputy prime minister because of his uncompromising stance against the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) fiasco.
“No, he (Muhyiddin) was sacked as DPM because he plotted with (Tun Dr) Mahathir Mohamad and his son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir since 2014 to remove me as prime minister and president of Umno long before 1MDB came to light,” Najib wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
Najib further referred to an article carried by Malay-language lifestyle portal mStar on July 13, 2017 whereby Mukhriz had admitted that his father and then-former DPM Muhyiddin had plans to topple him (Najib).
“I agree that my father tried to topple Najib and this plan started not in 2015 but much earlier, in 2014,” Mukhriz had said in his testimony in the High Court.
The former Kedah Mentri Besar was responding to a question from counsel Datuk Seri Jahaberdeen Mohamed Yunoos during cross-examination in the defamation suit brought by Mukhriz against Datuk Seri Tengku Sharifuddin Tengku Ahmad, Najib’s then-press secretary.
Asked by the lawyer whether he agreed that Dr Mahathir and Muhyiddin conspired to topple Najib, plaintiff Mukhriz said, “I do not want to use the word ‘conspiracy’, but they had a similar intention.”
Mukhriz had further claimed the matter was public knowledge, especially among Malaysians, and that it had also been circulated on social media and the mainstream media.
Responding to Muhyiddin’s allegations, Najib wrote on Facebook, “Until now he refuses to admit that the main reason he had to go was his abysmal record. A world-class failure.” – Aug 17, 2021.
