DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang wants to know whether Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) director-general Mohd Puad Zarkashi had lied to students in Canberra, Australia, about the RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ transferred to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal accounts.

Lim’s question comes after Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz revealed that the Umno supreme council was never informed about the RM2.6 billion donation.

Therefore, Puad’s remarks had clearly contradicted what Nazri had said, said Lim.

Puad claimed that Najib had admitted to Umno leaders after The Wall Street Journal’s expose on the matter that he had received the money and that he had discussed the matter with the then-Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

“Was Puad telling a lie or is Nazri’s version correct - that Najib never told Umno leaders about the source of the RM2.6 billion donation?

“Puad should speak up - was he telling the truth or a lie in his ‘Veracity Tour’ to visit Malaysian students in Australia?” asked Lim in a statement yesterday.

The prime minister, on the other hand, should end his silence and make public the Bank Negara documents that had approved the transfer of the RM2.6 billion into his personal banking accounts, Lim added.

Meanwhile, Lim believes that Puad owed an explanation to Malaysian taxpayers about the ‘Veracity Tour’.

“It is indeed a great irony that Puad should be telling lies instead of the truth in his ‘Veracity Tour’ of Australia.

“Let Puad make public all the ‘Veracity Tours’ he had undertaken as director-general of Jasa, what are the countries and cities he had visited and when, the total expenses incurred, and the real motive and outcome for such ‘Veracity Tours’.”

Former de facto law minister Nazri yesterday said Najib had no obligations to inform anyone that he received a RM2.6 billion political donation.

Nazri, who is also Umno supreme council member, said Najib only needed to alert Bank Negara Malaysia of a large tranche of cash coming into the country and need not keep anyone else in the loop.

“He never told us (the supreme council). He didn’t have to tell us. He just has to get approval from Bank Negara, that’s all,” he said when met at the Parliament lobby.