Malaysia cops to question Mahathir over anti-PM rally

Malaysian police said yesterday they would question former premier Mahathir Mohamad over statements he made at massive weekend rallies demanding the ousting of Najib Razak over corruption allegations.

"We will call him (Mahathir). He has made speeches and accusations," national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar was quoted as saying by online news outlet Malaysiakini.

"Among them, he claimed UMNO leaders had taken bribes so we want to find out more."

A global anti-corruption conference opened in Malaysia yesterday with a demand for the country's Prime Minister Najib Razak to come clean on a raging financial scandal.

"There are two questions that need to be answered: Who paid the money and why? Where did it go? One man could answer those questions," Jose Ugaz, global chair of Transparency International, told delegates in an opening speech.

The three-day International Anti-Corruption Conference is organised by Transparency International and brings together graft-fighting agencies from around the world.

Anger over the scandal brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of Kuala Lumpur and other cities over the weekend.

Meanwhile, seven people from Bersih, the coalition of Malaysian NGOs and activist groups that staged the weekend demonstrations, were questioned by police yesterday. No charges were filed.

A lawyer representing Bersih, Ramkarpal Singh, said police were investigating the organisers over various assembly violations.

Najib has been under increasing pressure since The Wall Street Journal revealed in early July that Malaysian investigators had found nearly $700 million in mysterious deposits into his personal bank accounts.