The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri has given a very convoluted reply to the parliamentary question on the progress of the Special Task Force to investigate into the 1MDB.
Saying that the Special Task Force is still investigating the 1MDB, Nancy said there is no time frame set for the investigations as there are many witnesses and documents to obtain, some of which are overseas.
She said the probe will be completed after the statements of all witnesses are recorded and all related documents obtained.
Once it is done, the report will be tabled to Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali for further action.
Does any MP or anyone for that matter really understand what Nancy is actually trying to say in her convoluted reply?
The long and short of Nancy’s convoluted reply is that there will be no outcome on the 1MDB probe, so long as Najib is the Prime Minister of Malaysia – and make no mistake, this applies to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as well, which explains the three-month derailment of continued PAC investigation into 1MDB in August, my six-month suspension from Parliament and the new PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin’s disarmingly frank admission that he had to “cari makan” when asked why Najib was not called as a star witness in the PAC probe into 1MDB.
Nancy’s answer is an irresponsible dismissal of the concern not only of Malaysians, but even the Malay Rulers, who in an unprecedented joint statement on October 6, 2015 had called for the completion of the 1MDB investigations “as soon as possible” and for “appropriate stern action” to be taken against all found to be implicated.
Now we have an official Cabinet reply to the Malay Rulers’ concern about the 1MDB scandal and call for the 1MDB probe to be completed “as soon as possible” – that no end is in sight for the 1MDB probe, that it will be spun out indefinitely into the future with no conclusion or result so long as Najib remains as the Prime Minister.
The sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s as Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as Minister for Rural and Regional Development, and even the shock dismissal of Tan Sri Gani Patail as Attorney-General are evidence of the fate of those who want an early resolution of the 1MDB scandal.
As Muhyiddin told 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh yesterday:
“My actions were to try and rectify the situation and remedy the party. “You (Najib) are the person responsible, who created this problem. How long should I remain silent on this? “I am not the person involved in the 1MDB or RM2.6 billion. Why is a person who is innocent punished and the person who is responsible is not facing action? Where is the logic and which law stipulates that?”
Muhyiddin said those who criticise are cut and beheaded, so where is the democracy in the party and Cabinet?
The latest shock statutory declaration by Charles Morais that the murder of his brother, DPP Kevin Morais may be related to a charge sheet which the Attorney-General’s Chambers was preparing to prosecute Prime Minister Najib for corruption in connection with 1MDB has raised even more disturbing questions.
Nancy’s convoluted reply has itself seeded many questions, especially in her claim that the Special Task Force into 1MDB is still investigating the case.
This is because the 1MDB Special Task Force has become a very mysterious creature, at one time announced as no more as having been disbanded, only to come alive two months later although it did not seem to have met at all!
A week after Najib’s shock offensive sacking the Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister and the Attorney-General as well as purging “insurbordinate” officials in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Police, Bank Negara and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the MACC issued a statement on August 5 stating that the Special Task Force on 1MDB had been disbanded by the new Attorney-General, Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali and that the three main agencies in the Special Task Force, Bank Negara, MACC and Police, had been ordered to work independently to continue their roles based on the relevant laws.
Two weeks later, it was announced that a new task force which excluded the MACC, had been formed to investigate alleged discrepancies and possible misappropriation of funds from 1MDB.
This new task force, called the National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team (NRRET), was headed by the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali, with representatives from Bank Negara, police, the Internal Revenue Board and the Royal Customs and Excise Department.
The new task force’s role is focused on the recovery of any government funds that may have been channelled into 1MDB.
Then some two months later, the Attorney-General’s Chambers issued a statement to say that the Special Task Force had never been disbanded – something which the MACC, one of the four agencies on the Special Task Force, did not know at all!
The Attorney-General’s Chamber statement on Oct. 8 was made in response to the joint statement by the Malay Rulers of Oct. 6 calling for the 1MDB probe to be completed “as soon as possible”.
Who in the AG’s Chambers issued this statement? Was it made with the authority of the new Attorney-General?
Was the AG’s Chamber statement of Oct. 8 telling the truth that the Special Task Force on 1MDB was never disbanded, and if so, why did the MACC issue a statement on August 5 announcing that the Special Task Force had been disbanded?
How many times had the Special Task Force on 1MDB met since August?
This is adding mystery to mystery, bundling the 1MDB scandal in a maze of mysteries.
It is indeed shocking if the Malay Rulers and Parliament could be given official answers which do not represent the truth.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as the only person in government and the country who knows the ins-and-outs, from the beginning to the present, about the 1MDB mega scandal, should stop running away from a full and satisfactorily accounting for the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals – and he must do so in Parliament, which is in the last week of its six-week budget meeting.