Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak reiterated that he had never taken any of 1MDB's funds for personal gain.
"I would like to stress again that I had never taken 1MDB's funds for my personal interest.
"The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) allegation is made with malicious intent, guided and supported by certain quarters in the country which intend to force me to resign as prime minister and Umno president," he said in a statement today.
Despite repeated calls for Najib to specifically address whether almost US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was deposited into his private bank accounts, there was no confirmation or denial from the prime minister on the matter.
Najib's statement came after his lawyers earlier today emailed WSJ to confirm whether the publication was actually accusing the prime minister of misappropriating US$700 million of 1MDB's funds.
The prime minister said his lawyers had sought for clarification of WSJ's stance as per his instructions.
"My lawyers will take further action after getting verification from the newspaper," he said.
Last Friday, WSJ published claims that US$700 million in public funds was deposited into Najib's personal accounts in AmBank based on what it said were government investigation papers.
The bulk of the transaction came from Tanore Finance Sdn Bhd in 2013.
However, the remaining amounting to RM42 million was said to have come from SRC International Sdn Bhd.
SRC International was demerged from 1MDB and placed under the Finance Ministry.
The alleged transaction into accounts allegedly belonging to Najib only happened in December 2014 and February 2015.
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