KUALA LUMPUR (March 3): Where exactly did all the money come from, DAP asked Datuk Seri Najib Razak today after the prime minister had denied his wealth comes from legacy family assets as initially claimed by his communications team.

DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua said his question to Najib – to explain the source of his family's wealth running to the hundreds of millions of ringgit – was pressing given the expose in the New York Times article last month on the "incredible wealth" of the prime minister's immediate family.

"I am certain the prime minister will agree with me that his lack of transparency and the exposé of his family’s hidden and not-so-hidden wealth will only encourage more unhealthy speculations on the origins of his family’s outsized wealth," the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur.

The prime minister's wealth has been the subject of intense focus in recent years after his step-son Riza Aziz burst into the Hollywood scene as a co-producer for the Oscar-nominated "Wolf of Wall Street" movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio two years ago. Riza had raised eyebrows with a series of property purchases despite his previous job as a junior banker in London.

Pua pointed out that following the expose, the Prime Minister's Office responded to the NYT report saying: "... neither any money spent on travel, nor any jewellery purchases, nor the alleged contents of any safes are unusual for a person of the prime minister’s position, responsibilities and legacy family assets."

Days later, Najib's four brothers – Datuk Johari, Datuk Nizam, Datuk Nazim and Datuk Seri Nazir – issued a statement dismissing talks of the extent of inheritance left by their father, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein.

Their statement came just days after The New York Times quoted the statement from the Prime Minister's Office that Najib's wealth came from a family inheritance after reports that his stepson had bought opulent properties in New York City.

Najib then joined his brothers in dismissing talks over the extent of inheritance left by his late father, saying that Malaysia's second prime minister was frugal and had integrity, Utusan Malaysia reported yesterday.

Pua said today that Najib's response was triggered by the less-than subtle rebuke by his brothers over talk of the family's inheritance.

"Now that the prime minister has denied his wealth is from legacy family assets, the question that begs to be answered following the New York Times expose is, where exactly did all that money come from?" Pua asked.

On February 8, The New York Times highlighted the wealth of businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, and his role as a property investor, whose transactions involved various parties, including Riza.

Low bought a luxury apartment in Manhattan, and also a Beverly Hills mansion through shell companies, and later sold them to Riza, although this has been denied by Low.

The paper also reported that Najib had been tainted by news of his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's spending on jewellery and designer handbags.

Pua added that if the prime minister truly believed that the source of his unusual life and exuberant lifestyle was acquired scrupulously, he must explain how he obtained it, given that his only occupation was as Pahang menteri besar (1982-1986), minister (1986-2004) and deputy prime minister (2004-2009), before he became prime minister in 2009.

"Regardless of the drama behind the relationship between Jho Low, Riza, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, which may be worthy of a Hollywood script, the fact of the matter from the various reports is that the prime minister’s family has been able to spend and acquire assets globally worth hundreds of millions of ringgit," he said.

Najib, who is also the Finance Minister, has cut Malaysia's 2015 budget by 1.5% due to falling revenues from low oil and palm oil prices amid a gloomy global economic outlook.

The 61-year-old PM had also once asked Malaysians to tighten their belts but has faced growing criticisms about his family's apparent wealth and his many foreign trips over the years.