COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
6 March 2015

The Cabinet might have tried to put up a united front over debt-heavy 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) financial woes but it took Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin just 48 hours to crack that façade.

His seven-paragraph statement tonight made three points not found in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement on Wednesday which said, “Cabinet expressed confidence that no wrong-doing has been committed within 1MDB, and their desire for the company to be allowed to implement the proposed outcomes of its strategic review.”

Muhyiddin’s points were simple for a company that reportedly sits on a RM51 billion asset base that can cover its RM42 billion debts.

For him, there should not be any bailout of 1MDB if it involves public funds, the Auditor-General must verify 1MDB’s accounts from 2009, and that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should carry out an independent probe.

In the PMO statement, Prime Miinister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had informed the Cabinet that he has instructed the Auditor General to independently verify 1MDB’s accounts.

“The Auditor General’s report will be passed for transparent inspection to the Public Accounts Committee, which is fully bipartisan and reflects Parliament’s composition,” said the statement.

“If any wrongdoing is proven, the law will be enforced without exception,” it quoted the prime minister as saying.

But Muhyiddin has taken matters further in asking for experts to assist the Auditor-General in conducting the audit in the shortest time possible for a complete and comprehensive report about 1MDB’s finances, adding that a forensic audit must be done to ensure there was no financial irregularities in 1MDB’s transactions.

In one did not know better, it would appear that Muhyiddin was channelling the requests of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) political opponents, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in asking for a thorough investigation.

Just a year ago, no one bothered to answer PR’s complaints about 1MDB until former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad brought up the issue.

The country’s longest-serving prime minister even granted an interview to whistleblower website Sarawak Report on the matter.

That was when it became a serious issue which the Cabinet then discussed when Najib was away from the country last December.

In recent weeks, the Cabinet even demurred from confirming its minutes to give a RM3 billion cash injection to 1MDB, which has an advisory board chaired by Najib in his capacity as prime minister and finance minister.

It would go down as the first time the Cabinet had rejected such a request from a prime minister for a government-owned company that needed some cash to tide over a cashflow problem.

If that decision did not reflect fractures in Najib’s Cabinet, tonight’s statement by Muhyiddin clearly shows that there are elements in the ruling administration who are concerned the cost of 1MDB’s financial woes.

Bailing out 1MDB or exonerating the company from any wrongdoing is not on the agenda now, a far cry from the days when financial scandals were cleared by other government-owned entities or the national oil company.

Muhyiddin is clear about that, even if it does not seem to be Putrajaya’s stand. The question now is whether other government ministers stand with him or the prime minister in solving 1MDB’s woes. – March 6, 2015.