Najib had criticised Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s defence of a RM6 million allocation to New Era College, Southern University College and Han Chiang College.

The former finance minister also labelled Lim’s comparison of those colleges to the RM15 million set aside for UIAM as “nonsensical”, pointing out the three were private institutions while UIAM was a public university.

But in a statement today, Lim clarified that he had never referred to UIAM.

“He appears confused and doesn’t know the difference between UIM and UIAM,” he said, adding that UIM is, in fact, a non-profit private tertiary education institution.

“It is regretful that he does not know the difference between UIM and UIAM despite having been in the government and served in Putrajaya for more than 20 years.

“Did he not read carefully, because he has made a huge mistake by saying UIM and UIAM are the same entity.”

Najib, he said, should apologise for his blunder, adding however he was sceptical the former Umno president would do so.

Lim said this in light of Najib refusing to take responsibility for the 1MDB scandal, despite Goldman Sachs, a multinational investment bank, recently apologising for the role played by a former banker of theirs in the fiasco.