AFP- Malaysia’s former leader Najib Razak was hit with a travel ban Saturday as speculation mounted he was about to flee the country following his shock election loss, in a possible bid to avoid prosecution over a multi-billion-dollar scandal.
An angry crowd had gathered at a Kuala Lumpur airport, shouting at vehicles and seeking to stop them entering, after a purported flight itinerary leaked online showed Najib and his unpopular wife were planning to head to Indonesia.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition’s defeat in the election at the hands of an alliance led by Najib’s one-time mentor Mahathir Mohamad amounted to a political earthquake, which toppled an increasingly authoritarian regime that had ruled the country for six decades.
At 92, Mahathir is the world’s oldest state leader. The former autocrat previously served as prime minister for over two decades and was a BN stalwart.
But he came out of retirement and defected to the opposition in a bid to unseat Najib over allegations that huge sums were looted from sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, which Najib set up and oversaw.
Since the opposition victory, Malaysia’s king has agreed to pardon jailed top politician Anwar Ibrahim — a former nemesis turned ally of Mahathir — in a move that could pave the way for him to become premier. Senior members of his party said he was expected to be freed Tuesday.
“Blacklisted”
Speculation had been mounting that Najib might try to flee the country as Mahathir has pledged to investigate the 1MDB controversy if he won power.
As an image of the leaked manifest for a flight on a private jet to Jakarta spread like wildfire online, Najib insisted in social media posts he was only planning a “short break” overseas to rest after the election and would be back next week.
But anger quickly mounted among social media users who accused the defeated leader of seeking to flee, and the immigration department swiftly announced both he and his wife Rosmah Mansor — unpopular because of her spendthrift ways — were banned from leaving Malaysia.
Mahathir confirmed he had issued the order to stop the pair leaving.
“It is true that I prevented Najib from leaving the country… he and his wife,” he told a press conference.
When asked if the restrictions on Najib were due to 1MDB, Mahathir said: “There are a lot of complaints against (Najib) all of which have to be investigated… we find that some of the complaints are valid.
“We have to act quickly because we don’t want to be saddled with a problem of extradition from other countries.”
Anwar release
Earlier, as dozens of people descended on the airport in a bid to stop Najib and Rosmah leaving, riot police were stationed by the gate of the airport where it was believed Najib would enter.
As a white van with heavily tinted windows attempted to pass by, the crowd surrounded the vehicle and it was only allowed to pass after they confirmed Najib was not inside.
After being hit with the travel ban, Najib later announced he was stepping down as chairman of BN and president of its main party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), following the historic loss.
Mahathir also announced the first three appointments to his cabinet — Lum Guan Eng as finance minister, Muhyiddin Yassin as interior minister and Mohamad Sabu as defence minister.
He suggested Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali, who cleared Najib over 1MDB and shut down domestic probes, was as good as out of a job.
He said restrictions had been placed on people suspected of wrongdoing, adding: “At the moment, we don’t have an attorney-general.”
Xavier Jayakumar, a vice-president of Anwar’s party, said the jailed politician was expected to be released from prison Tuesday.
Anwar was heir-apparent to the premiership until Mahathir sacked him in 1998 and he was subsequently jailed for sodomy and abuse of power.
But in a remarkable turnaround, the pair reconciled and joined forces as allegations mounted over 1MDB and Najib became increasingly authoritarian.
Anwar, now 70, was jailed again in 2015 during Najib’s rule and had been due for release next month.
