The concluded Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's RM2.6 billion ‘donation’ did not look into the origins of the money, said an Umno deputy minister.

"We (the MACC) were only looking into corruption, not where the money came from.

"(The MACC probed on) whether the money fell under (the scope of) a corrupt act or not," Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Razali Ibrahim told Parliament last night.

"We can't make assumptions about 1MDB, because of things in the US and Switzerland.

"They may be looking at the money trail, we only look at the question of corruption," he added while wrapping up his part of the Budget 2017 debate speech, focusing on the MACC and Felda.

Therefore, he said the case, which had been closed early this year, would stay closed.

He was responding to a query from Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) on whether the MACC would re-open its probe into the RM2.6 billion donation scandal following the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) 1MDB-linked civil suits in July.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had in January said the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) banked into Najib's personal accounts in 2013 was a donation from the Saudi royalty.

Apandi subsequently closed the case, claiming that the premier had not committed any crime.

However, the DOJ in its kleptocracy suits to reclaim ‘stolen money’, said US$681 million channelled into the accounts of an unnamed Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) in 2013, originated from 1MDB.

In total, the DOJ said MO1 received US$731 million in siphoned 1MDB funds, which went through US financial institutions.

SRC probe still ongoing

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan has since said that MO1 is Najib.

Najib however denied misusing public funds, and dismissed the allegations as a plot to topple him.

Meanwhile, Razali said the MACC's probe into former 1MDB subsidiary SRC International was still ongoing as time was needed to deal with the foreign parties involved.

Energy firm SRC, which is now under the Finance Ministry, is accused of having channelled RM42 million into Najib's accounts.

Apandi, however, said Najib, who is also finance minister, was unaware about the money.

On a separate matter, Razali said recommendations regarding a new MACC Special Committee on Corruption chairperson to replace Abu Zahar Ujang had been submitted to the PM's Office, and was pending a decision.