Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's claim that he has no links with Altantuya Shariibuu was not enough, said former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim.

In a series of tweets today, Zaid said what the people want to know is who ordered police commandos Sirul Azhar Umar and Azilah Hadri to murder Altantuya.

"Let me repeat: We want to know why Najib's bodyguards killed Altantuya. The answer cannot be 'I don't know her'," wrote Zaid.

He said this in reference to Najib's pre-recorded interview aired by TV3 on Thursday night.

The TV3 programme host Hamdan Ahmir had asked Najib if he was involved in the murder, in view of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's demand that the government uncovers the murder motive.

Najib replied that he had sworn on God's name, three times, that he doesn't know Altantuya, directly or indirectly.

RM1 mil only?

During the interview, Najib also provided partial rebuttals to Mahathir's allegations on irregularities in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Najib said the state investment fund had a start-up capital of RM1 million and had to borrow in order to acquire assets, thus requiring time to pay off its debts.

To this, Zaid said the answer given by Najib raised more questions than answers.

"Why did 1MDB, a state company, require only RM1 million as capital? What business can the state do with that (little) money?

"The answer cannot be: Don't worry about the debts, give us time we will pay them," wrote Zaid.

1MDB, established in 2009, is Najib's brainchild. Najib heads 1MDB's advisory board. Thus far, the company has accumulated a debt of RM42 billion - nearly 10 percent of Malaysia's national debt.

Public interest issues

On Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein's claim that there was no need for Umno to rebut every allegation made by Mahathir, Zaid said this reaction was wrong because the matters raised were of public interest.

"(While the) crooked bridge is important to Mahathir, but it is not for personal reasons. So don't use that to belittle Mahathir or depict as spiteful.

"It is not Mahathir that you fellows need to answer to - it's the people who want to know.

"Mahathir is merely speaking on issues we consider important.

"So you see, Hishamuddin, you don't have to keep answering Mahathir, but at least answer him once," wrote Zaid.

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