There was no need for Najib to weigh in on accusations against him, the Langkawi MP said.
“He should focus on his case where he stole billions of ringgit from 1MDB,” he said in a Facebook post.
Najib is currently facing four charges of using his position to obtain bribes totalling RM2.3 billion from 1MDB funds and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount.
“He should also focus on suing Tommy Thomas who had implicated him in the murder of Altantuya,” Mahathir said, referring to Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.
Thomas, the former attorney-general, had linked Najib to Altantuya’s murder in his recently released book, “My Story: Justice in the Wilderness”.
Najib is planning to sue the former AG after a letter of demand seeking a public apology and RM10 million in damages was rebuffed by the latter.
Citing Najib’s recollection of the events that had transpired in the late 1980s, on Umno’s election and deregistration, Mahathir wondered if the Pekan MP could also remember making a vow to “bathe the keris with Chinese blood” in 1987 at a rally organised by Umno Youth, which Najib led at the time.
In an immediate response, Najib said that he had denied uttering such remarks several times, including in the Dewan Rakyat.
Najib said in 2009, the late Karpal Singh had asked him in the Dewan Rakyat if it was true and accepted his denial on the matter.
“Karpal Singh was satisfied and said ‘case closed’,” Najib said in a Facebook post.
Najib also said that if what Mahathir claimed was true, he would have been arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), along with hundreds of others as part of the Operasi Lalang crackdown which took place in October 1987.
He also challenged Mahathir to provide proof he had threatened the Chinese community.
Earlier today, Najib mocked Mahathir’s claim that the latter had not interfered in the country’s judiciary.
“Ha…ha…ha! For Mahathir to say Umno’s deregistration was proof that he never interfered in the judiciary has to be the biggest lie in the Malaysian judiciary’s history,” Najib told FMT.
In an exclusive interview with FMT, Mahathir, responding to claims of interference in the judiciary, said the courts had ruled against him in several cases, most notably when Umno – which he led at the time – was declared illegal by the High Court on Feb 4, 1988.
The ruling came after 11 Umno members sued the party in 1987, seeking a declaration that the party elections earlier that year was unconstitutional and illegal.