Ambiga Sreenevasan: Nobody Gives You RM2.6 Billions Without Benefit

Forum- Malaysia: Where Do We Go From Here, Kuala Lumpur 06/08/2015
Prominent lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has added to the chorus of voices who are saying that Umno could have broken anti-graft laws when it called the RM2.6 billion in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal accounts a donation.
Ambiga, who is former chairman of the Bar Council, said that under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act (MACC) 2009, the definition of gratification in Section 50 of the act included donations.
The section stated that any form of gratification was presumed to have been corruptly received, unless proven otherwise, she said.
This meant that the burden was on the receiver of the money to disprove any element of corruption.
“They have made it worse for themselves when they used the term donation. This is a real red flag,” Ambiga told the audience at a forum titled “Malaysia: Where do we go from here?” in Kuala Lumpur last night.
The MACC has declared that RM2.6 billion which had been funnelled into Najib’s accounts was a donation and not money from 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).