Najib in an interview with MalaysiaKini last week had said that Zeti and Bank Negara had known about the RM2.6bil going into his account a few weeks before the 2013 general election and did not raise the “red flag” of any wrongdoing.

Najib, who is now under arrest by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in relation to investigations into SRC International Sdn Bhd, had said that the money was a donation from Saudi Arabia and not from 1MDB. SRC Inter­national used to be a subsidiary of 1MDB before it was taken over by the Ministry of Finance.

“I had no knowledge of the RM2.6bil remitted to his account,” said Zeti.

The RM2.6bil was deposited into Najib’s personal account in AmBank sometime in March 2013. Najib called for a general election a month later.

Bank Negara had fined at least two banks and 1MDB for offences related to the Financial Services Act related to the transaction of funds from the beleaguered fund. The total fines imposed were RM115.8mil.

Zeti said that on matters relating to transactions by account holders, Bank Negara relied on information provided by the banks themselves.

“Unless the relevant banking institution reports to Bank Negara on irregularities in an account or if Bank Negara receives a tip-off that gives a reason to believe that an offence has occurred, the central bank is not able to initiate investigations into that individual account,” she said.

Banks are supposed to initiate a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) if there are large deposits going into the accounts of individuals.

In the case of the RM2.6bil, AmBank group was fined RM53.7mil for not alerting the central bank through an STR.