KUALA LUMPUR: Elie Youssef Najem has strongly denied reports that he is wanted by Interpol for crimes in three different countries.

Najem said he had never even been to Cyprus before, where he is said to be a wanted man, that he had left Canada in 1993, and that he had only been to Lebanon three times in his life.

“Who did I kill or which drug deal did I do for Interpol to want me?” he asked during a press conference at his apartment yesterday.

He also denied reports that he was wanted by Canadian police for a string of fraud cases dating back more than a decade.

“I am not the only Elie Youssef Najem in Canada. I did my own checks and found that there is another person with that name, a Somali,” he said.

Najem came into the spotlight when he pledged over RM1bil in donation to the Malaysian Cancer Society (Makna) last Friday but his wealth came into question, especially when he could not prove he had the money.

The Lebanese made another claim about himself yesterday that he had a degree in law as well as a PhD in criminology. He also claimed that he received SMSes from a journalist, threatening to kill him.

“I will be filing a lawsuit against the newspaper that sent this message to me,” he said.

Source: The Star