DHAKA: Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has said funds found in Malaysian PM Najib Razak’s personal account were a donation, say Malaysian state media.

Last year, the Wall Street Journal accused Najib of corruption, claiming that the $681m had come from troubled state fund 1MDB.

Najib has faced repeated calls to step down as prime minister but has been cleared of wrongdoing.

He said the Saudi statement confirmed what he had always maintained.

The 1MDB fund was set up by Najib in 2009 to pay for major new economic and social developments in Malaysia.

Last July, Malaysia’s then-Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail linked the $681m in Najib’s account to companies and bodies which had ties to 1MDB.

Patail was replaced, and, after an investigation, his successor cleared Najib of corruption, saying that the money was a personal donation by the Saudi royal family to the prime minister's private bank account.

The Saudi foreign minister, speaking to reporters at a summit in Istanbul, confirmed this, according to Malaysian state news agency Bernama, reports the BBC.

BDST: 2040 HRS, APR 15, 2016
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