Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak or a minister he nominates will explain on Dec 3 the controversial RM2.6 billion donation that went into Najib's personal bank accounts.

The answer will be given during the question-and-answer session on the last day of the current Parliament sitting, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said today.

"I will entertain you by telling you we will answer at the end of session on Dec 3," she told reporters at Parliament.

She, however, refused to confirm if Najib would be answering the issue himself.

"Whether the prime minister will answer or anyone in the Prime Minister's Department, it is still the prerogative of the prime minister," she said when asked.

Holding a copy of Parliament's Standing Orders, she said the rules do not specify that an answer must be given on the day a parliamentary question is asked.

"If the prime minister answers today, there will be continuous questions. Don't you think it is fairer to accumulate all the questions on the last day?" said Azalina.

When pressed further if the prime minister should be the one to handle the answer, she candidly admitted she has no answer for that.

"How can I answer that? I am not a prime minister. Why don't you ask me when I am a prime minister. I cannot answer. I am a junior minister," she said.

The issue relating to the RM2.6 billion donation may be under the portfolio of the Prime Minister's Department or Finance Ministry, she said, thus the government might need to decide who was the relevant minister to answer the question in the Dewan Rakyat.

Donation from Middle-East

Controversy erupted when US-based financial daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed earlier this year that RM2.6 billion had been wired by an Abu Dhabi fund into Najib's private bank accounts.

Najib has denied the funds were meant for personal use and said the amount was from a Middle Eastern donor and was a political 'donation'.

The issue came hot on the heels of the massive debts accumulated by state-owned firm 1MDB which is Najib's brainchild and of which he is chairperson of the board of advisers.

The current Parliament session which commenced on Oct 19 saw opposition lawmakers harping on the question of RM2.6 billion donation and related issues on a daily basis.

The lawmakers demanded to know the donor and the parties which benefited from the amount.

The lawmakers also asked the government to confirm if state-owned SRC International also transferred money into Najib's bank accounts.

They also queried if Bank Negara was aware of all these transactions and if there were elements of corruption in any or all of them.

In a parliamentary written reply, Azalina had said the answers would be given during the current Parliament sitting.

DAP lawmaker Teo Nie Ching, meanwhile, had accused the minister of abusing her power by shielding Najib from questions relating to the donation.

'This is my KPI'

Azalina told reporters today Najib could not respond to a question on whether he had received RM42 million from SRC International, as the case was being probed by the MACC.

"You said I am protecting (Najib). My immediate response is that this is a political set-up. We are MPs, we do all we can to ensure the government is still a government," she said.

"If you said I am protecting (Najib), my immediate response is that it is my duty to ensure the government is government. This is my KPI," she said.

"As a minister who oversees parliamentary affairs, if I don't come to Parliament, if I do not read the Standing Orders, I allow everything to go havoc, I answer (the questions) every time (they are raised), don't you think it will be a ruckus ?" she said.

"Najib Razak is not Najib Razak. He is the leader of the majority and we as MPs for the majority will do what needs to done," she said.