Protesters are taking to the streets Sunday for the second day of a two-day rally in Malaysia’s capital to demand the resignation of the prime minister who is facing serious fraud allegations. 

Bersih, the country’s leading civil society, wants Najib Razak to resign following revelations he received $700 million into his personal accounts from the government-owned 1MDB investment fund.

While rally organizers claim Saturday’s turnout was 200,000, police said the crowd was well under 30,000.

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, 90, who has spearheaded calls for Najib’s resignation, made a brief appearance at the rally Saturday.

Demonstrators, wearing the yellow shirts of Bersih, camped overnight on the streets of Kuala Lumpur near Independence Square, despite the government blocking access to Bersih’s website and declaring the demonstration illegal because the activists do not have permission to stage a rally on the site.

Authorities have also banned the wearing of Bersih’s traditional yellow attire and the group’s logo, a measure the protesters have roundly ignored.

The government tightened security ahead of the rally.

Najib has denied the allegations, saying the money was a gift from the Middle East. He has suggested that the corruption allegations are part of a “political sabotage” against Malaysia’s longtime ruling coalition.

The investigation has raised the prospect of criminal charges being filed against Najib, something that has never happened to a Malaysian prime minister.

Najib fired the attorney general who investigated him.

The allegations surfaced last month in The Wall Street Journal, which based its story on leaked documents from a government investigation into the 1MDB fund.

1MDB, which is chaired by Najib, faces accusations of corruption and mismanagement, and is over $11 billion in debt. It is under investigation by several government agencies.

Some material for this report came from AP, AFP and Reuters. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance