WSJ has broken every rule of journalism, says Rahman

The US-based Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has broken every rule of journalism in the book by making false allegation against Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, said an Umno minister.

“Despite being proven wrong time and time again, WSJ continues to allow itself to be used as a willing vehicle by the anti-Najib campaign,” Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan said in a statement today.

He was commenting on the latest WSJ report which alleged the money that went into Najib private bank accounts came from 1MDB or its subsidiary.

“This politically-motivated campaign failed last year, and it won't succeed now,” said Rahman, who is also BN strategic communications director.

“In yet another attack full of inaccuracies, the daily claimed that Saudi officials – who were not named – have said that their finance and foreign ministers had no knowledge of the donation into Najib's account,” he said.

But the Saudi foreign minister has publicly said that the funds were sent to Najib from Saudi Arabia – as was confirmed by attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali following extensive investigations, he added.

He also questioned the trustworthiness of the report.

“WSJ has broken every rule of journalism in the book. How do we know these people even exist? ” he said, referring to WSJ's ways of reporting which cited unnamed sources.

‎“No doubt, it will continue to make other false allegations. However, as has been proven in this instance, I have confidence that the people will see through their lies," he said.

WSJ finance editor Ken Brown alleged that based on the paper's investigation, the money did not come from Saudi Arabia but from 1MDB.

Brown said this in an exclusive interview with ABC News Australia on Feb 12 when refuting Apandi's claim that the money deposited into Najib's private accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family.

"Our reporting has shown for months now that the money did not come from the Saudis, but it came via a bunch of companies and bank accounts related to 1MDB.

“And as you know, our story hasn't been called into question yet and we have loads of evidence to back that up," Brown told ABC's Beverley O'Connor. -Mkini