It would be constitutionally “impossible” to overturn the decision to clear the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, of corruption, a source close to the PM’s department has told the Guardian.
The comments follow allegations that the country’s attorney general had ignored a recommendation from the top anti-corruption body that Najib be charged for criminal misappropriation.
The attorney general said on Tuesday that $681m transferred into Razak’s personal bank account was a gift from the royal family in Saudi Arabia, and there were no criminal offences or corruption involved. The statement in effect ended the domestic investigation into Razak.
However, media reports subsequently quoted unnamed sources in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) saying it had recommended Najib be charged.
“It’s impossible for the attorney general’s decision to be legally overturned,” the source said, requesting anonymity as he was not allowed to speak publicly to the press. “Not even the highest court in Malaysia can. The constitution would have to be changed, and that’s not going to happen.”
Najib, who has weathered months of calls from opposition leaders and establishment figures to resign, has denied any wrongdoing and says he did not take any money for personal gain.
The prime minister said on Tuesday that he welcomed the attorney general’s comments, which “confirmed what I have maintained all along: that no crime was committed” and added that the “issue has been an unnecessary distraction for the country”.
The MACC’s chief commissioner, Abu Kassim Mohamed, said in a statement on Thursday that the body “is in no way disputing or challenging the attorney general’s clearance of the cases against the prime minister”.
He added, however, that the clearance decision was being reviewed as “a standard operating procedure as part of the process of closing any case”. Mohamed neither confirmed nor denied that the MACC had advised the attorney general to charge Najib but said he has instructed a police report to be filed into “unauthorised briefings to media”.
In July, Najib sacked the country’s previous attorney general, who had led the investigation up to that point, for “health reasons” in a government reshuffle that also saw the dismissal of several officials who had been critical of the premier.
The scandal has shaken investors in south-east Asia’s third-biggest economy and rocked public confidence in the coalition led by Najib’s United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party, which has held power since independence in 1957.
However, Najib still enjoys the backing of most of UMNO’s powerful division chiefs. Even his fiercest internal critics, such as the influential former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, accept that he cannot be unseated.
