Najib, who is also the finance minister, asserted this based on the state investment arm’s records.

“The payments were made so that 1MDB could obtain a 40 per cent stake in a joint venture,” he said in a written reply to Tony Pua (DAP – Petaling Jaya Utara).

Pua had asked who were Good Star Limited’s actual owners following Bank Negara’s statement that it was owned by an individual who had no links to Petrosaudi.

Najib also pointed out that Petrosaudi acknowledged receiving the payments.

The ownership of Good Star attracted controversy after Opposition members in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) accused its chairman Hasan Arifin of deleting two sentences in the final report which were related to Good Star.

The key sentence the Opposition PAC members claimed that was deleted stated that Bank Negara Malaysia had been informed by the relevant overseas authorities on a voluntary basis that the ultimate beneficiary of Good Star Limited was an individual unrelated to the Petrosaudi group.