COMMENT In the case of Mohd Kasdi vs Public Prosecutor (1969), Justice Ali Hassan held that while there was no universal test to determine credibility, a person who made two inconsistent statements was to be treated as being without credibility. Let’s see if I can give you an example:

“Let’s say a credit-card holder knowingly admits to spending millions of ringgit using a particular credit card but then says he does not know who credits money into his account to pay for the purchases made under that card. He is not credible at all. He is more likely to be a liar.”

Under this test, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir’s statement about the ‘donation’, which appears to exonerate Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, also lacks credibility and has to be viewed with scepticism.

In February 2016 al-Jubeir told the New York Times that the money was definitely an investment by private entities. After meeting our prime minister in Istanbul three days ago he said it was a donation. He of course did not want to talk much about the subject or to know much about the transaction, or else he would have felt it necessary to explain the change of mind.

Of course he could be referring to a totally different donation altogether, as there have been several donations to Najib’s account involving differing sums made on different dates by different personalities.

The prime minister’s handlers are busy trying to find a credible explanation for the money found in his private account. In this, they will be more successful if they can produce Najib’s bank statements.

Show us the money trail - how much came from where, on what dates, who made the ‘donation or donations’, and when the sum of RM2.08 billion was returned (as stated by the attorney-general) and to whom. It’s all quite simple if we want to be transparent.

The prime minister and his handlers must not assume that all those who want answers to these questions have personal agendas against Najib or aspire to replace him as prime minister.

Most of us are ordinary Malaysians who just want the truth, and we want a prime minister who is transparent and honest in his dealings. Is that too much to ask?

As for my favourite young minister Khairy Jamaluddin, a declaration of innocence by those people Najib has dealings with settles nothing and does not satisfy me. After all, the attorney-general has already declared Najib innocent and yet not many people (including me) believe it, so why should a one-liner from the Saudi foreign minister change things?

Unless I see Najib’s bank statements and the money trail, I will still hold to my strong instinct that the money comes from 1MDB.

The money went via the now famous bogus Aabar through Jho Low’s companies to Tanore Finance owned by Falcon Bank. So, Khairy, it’s not a simple matter to clear the prime minister’s name - you need more than the attorney-general and the Saudi foreign minister. You need the bank statements and the money trail.

ZAID IBRAHIM is a former de facto law minister.