The Pakatan Harapan victory in the 14th General Election expected to be held in 90 days will launch Malaysia into new waters, one of which will be to open wide the mystery of the 1MDB scandal which the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had trying his utmost as the top government leader to dismiss as non-existent and a fake news.
Many countries in the world have been investigating the 1MDB scandal and several people implicated in the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal had been convicted and even jailed as in Singapore; several banks and finance companies including quite prestigious and long-standing financial institutions had been closed down or heavily fined as in Singapore and Switzerland; and worst of all, the largest kleptocratic forfeiture litigation amounting to nearly US$2 billion had been launched by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), described as the “world’s worst kleptocracy” by the United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions, resulting in Malaysia pelted with the ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy.
But in Malaysia, the 1MDB scandal has been manipulated by the Najib government as a non-event, even as a fake news and sheer concoction of those who have only malice for Malaysia!
But for how long can we put up with such pretences?.
Yesterday, the Malaysian government claimed in court that it was not connected to Prime Minister Najib and 1MDB regarding a controversial multi-billion-dollar loan settlement with an Abu Dhabi investment firm, and that their conduct has no bearing on its liability.
In its statement of defence yesterday filed in a local litigation, the Federal Government said there was no “nexus” between the allegations against Najib or the state investment fund.
The case is in relation to a debt payment dispute in 2016, in relation to a British Virgin Island phantom company when the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) sought US$6.5 billion (RM24 billion) from 1MDB and the Finance Ministry.
In May last year, a settlement was reached in London, which Pakatan Harapan youth group Gerakan Anak Muda Tolak Najib (GANT1) is taking to court, to declare it void.
In its statement of defence, the government denied “vicarious liability” towards the liabilities of Najib or 1MDB, which went against the public position taken by the Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani on August 1, 2016, that 1MDB would “fight” and not pay the US$6.5 billion in claims made by IPIC and its subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar Asli), via the London Court of International Arbitration.
Johari had said: “We want to fight, and we want to win this case. We cannot make statements that might weaken Malaysia’s position.
“Based on the documents that 1MDB had forwarded to us, I’m very confident of a positive outcome.
“We are taking the position that we are not paying the interest. We shouldn’t pay. We must win this case.”
The Federal Government, whether the Finance Minister who is also the Prime Minister himself, or the Second Finance Minister, must clear the public doubts caused by these conflicting and contradictory government positions.
I do not expect the Najib government to throw much light on these 1MDB contradictions and conflicts, and we will have to wait for an UMNO/BN defeat in the 14th General Election and a change of Federal Government, with Tun Mahathir taking over as the 7th Prime Minister followed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the 8th Prime Minister, to get to the bottom of the gargantuan 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, and to cleanse Malaysia of the international infamy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy.
(Speech at the DAP Kopitiam Ceramah in Kulai on Saturday, 10th February 2018 at 11 am)