How did Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin raise RM9.2 million to acquire a three percent stake in boutique investment house ECM Libra?

Matthias Chang, the former political secretary of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, wants the prime minister to explain how Khairy raised the money which paved the way to the merger between ECM Libra and government-linked company Avenue Capital Resources Bhd.

Abdullah's 31-year-old son-in-law - commonly referred to as KJ - is also the Umno Youth deputy chief.

"Khairy is a stakeholder in ECM Libra and the prime minister is also the finance minister. Is this not corruption? What else do you need as evidence?" Chang told a press conference at his office in Kuala Lumpur today.

Chang, a lawyer by profession, also called on Abdullah to explain the speculation that his son-in-law is the country's de facto prime minister.

"If Khairy is not appointed by the government, why is he allowed to make decisions that affect the country's economy?" he asked further.

He said the issues concerned Abdullah's integrity and therefore he must speak up and not direct his ministers to provide answers.

"No one can explain this, except the prime minister himself. Rumours are flying all over the country, this is a serious crisis," he added.

Chang also said the political crisis following Mahathir's scathing criticism of the current administration could be resolved within 24 hours if the government stopped "beating around the bush" and provided adequate answers to his former boss.

Nazri slammed

Meanwhile, Chang also criticised Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz for his caustic statements against Mahathir.

On Monday, Nazri had challenged the former premier to be a 'real man and resign' from Umno.

Commenting on this, Chang likened the minister to a 'school boy' spoiling for a fight and urged him to resign instead

"Don't try to be a hero. Nothing he says has any substance, they (Nazri's remarks) don't answer the queries raised by Tun (Mahathir)," he said.

He added that if cabinet ministers endorsed this type of behaviour towards Mahathir then the "system is rotten".

Over the past months, Mahathir had ruffled feathers in the Abdullah administration by questioning certain decisions made.

While claiming that it was nothing personal, the former premier had on one occasion wondered aloud if he had made the wrong choice in handing over the reins to Abdullah.