It has been reported that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be making a “working visit” to the United Kingdom from Sunday to May 18 to promote investment between the two countries.

It would appear that Najib’s overseas itinerary had been planned to enable him to avoid parliamentary responsibility and accountability with Parliament scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

Why is Najib absconding to UK when he should be in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting on the exploding 1MDB global financial scandal?

Why is Najib going away from the country when he should have given top priority to his attendance of Parliament among all his Prime Ministerial duties especially with the 1MDB scandal assuming such an explosive dimension?

All the pieces of the monstrous jigsaw puzzle of Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion ‘donation’ twin mega scandals seem to be falling into place, proving among other things, that the twin 1MDB and “donation” scandals are in fact one big mega financial scandal!

For the first time, SRC International is now linked to the 1MDB scandal. Also for the first time, international media reports are linking Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donations” to 1MDB, as well as linking 1MDB’s multibillion USD payments to the mysterious British Virgin Island-registered firm Aabar Investment PJS Limited (as distinct from the Abu Dhabi firm Aabar Investment PJS) to Najib beneficiaries.

Instead of standing up in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting for the exploding 1MDB global financial scandal, including the presentation of a White Paper on 1MDB and setting aside three days for a full Parliamentary debate on 1MDB and the PAC report on 1MDB, Najib has chosen to abscond overseas.

This is the height of Prime Ministerial irresponsibility and negligence!

Is there another Commonwealth Parliamentary democracy where the Prime Minister deliberately plan his overseas programme so that he could play truant from Parliament?

How many times have Najib commited such an irresponsible Prime Ministerial act in his six years as Prime Minister?

If Najib had to go to the UK, he should have made it to London yesterday so that he could play a leading role in the Global Anti-Corruption Summit in London hosted by the United Kingdom Government, as it is was the second most important global anti-corruption conference held after the16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya last September with the theme of “Ending Impunity: People, Integrity and Action”.

The 16th IACC was supposed to be the high-water mark of Najib’s six-year anti-corruption campaign and show-case him as one of the exemplary global leaders spearheading a transformation programme with anti-corruption as one of its core objectives.

But the 16th IACC became a major flop and sham for Malaysia with Najib mired in his twin mega scandals to the extent that Najib had to cancel the keynote address he was scheduled to deliver.

But Najib’s absence from the Global Anti-Corruption Summit in London yesterday was probably a blessing in disguise for Malaysia, for it would otherwise have been an even more humiliating experience for Najib and Malaysia, as he would not be able to answer all the questions about the 1MDB scandal, just as he was unable to answer them at the 16th IACC Conference in Putrajaya last September, and he had to give it a most “humiliating” miss!