Dr Mahathir Mohamad sarcastically suggested today that the authorities should stop investigating the alleged misappropriation of funds by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and should instead go after him.

Mahathir said this in response to accusations that he, too, had lost government funds when serving as prime minister for 22 years.

This was after Mahathir began his offensive against Najib on allegations that the prime minister had misappropriated funds belonging to 1MDB, which had accumulated RM41.8 billion in debt.

"I welcome the proposal that the authorities should stop investigating the banking affairs of Najib but instead investigate the allegation by Tunku Aziz that I lost RM600 million in the 80’s," Mahathir said in his blog posting today.

He said this in reference to the accusation by Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim, a member of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission advisory board, that Mahathir was guilty of worse financial scandals in the past.

Mahathir went on to challenge the authorities to arrest and charge him, if there was evidence he had misappropriated funds when he was prime minister until 2003.

"If there is evidence that the money went into my account, please charge and arrest me. It is not too late.

"This offer by me is not intended to deflect attention from the current investigation of Najib’s account. I just want to make people happy," Mahathir said.