Nazri accepts Mahathir’s debate challenge
Tarrence Tan | March 10, 2017
FMT
The minister says he'll be ready as soon as he returns on Monday from Berlin.
PETALING JAYA: Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz has accepted former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s challenge to a debate on 1MDB, the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal and the deposit of RM2.6 billion into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank account.Nazri told FMT he would be ready for the debate as soon as he returned to Malaysia from a working visit in Berlin. He is scheduled to return next Monday.
“Okay, I agree,” he said. “l’ll be back on the 13th; so ask him to make the preparations. Or, if he agrees, I can do the arrangement.”
Mahathir threw the challenge yesterday.
Talk about the BMF scandal was recently revived when declassified US Central Intelligence Agency documents linked the Mahathir administration to about US$1 billion in losses in the 1980s.
Last year, Attorney-General Apandi Ali cleared Najib of any wrongdoing pertaining to the RM2.6 billion deposit, saying he was satisfied that the money was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family.
Nazri had earlier challenged Mahathir, who is the founding chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), to contest against him in Padang Rengas in the coming general election.
Mahathir responded by challenging Nazri to contest against him for the Langkawi parliamentary seat instead, but he has since said he would not run for election. The former PM was appointed Langkawi PPBM division chief last month.
