The first working sitting of the sixth meeting of the 13th Parliament has confirmed that the Malaysian Parliament has become a Parliament of a global kleptocracy as Parliament is not prepared to do anything to challenge, purge and cleanse Malaysia of the ignominy, infamy and iniquity of a global kleptocracy for over three years.
Coming at a time when the 1MDB scandal had been delivering bad news by the lorrylooads to Malaysia’s repute and standing, the failure of the Malaysian Parliament to protect the reputation of Malaysia and rebut without equivocation the epithet of Malaysia as a global kleptocracy will go down in history as the most shameful episode of Malaysian Parliament since Merdeka in 1957.
The lorry-loads of bad news for Malaysia from the 1MDB scandal started with the seizure of 1MDB scandal mastermind Jho Low’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet by the Singapore authorities in early February and include the following:
– The judgment of the Court of Appeal taking judicial notice of the Attorney-General Tan Sri Apandi Ali’s stand that Najib did not commit any wrongdoing with regard to 1MDB despite the United State Department of Justice (DoJ)’s largest kleptocratic litigation against 1MDB – a decision which shocked the local and international community;
– Bank Negara’s failure to lay claim to some US$400 million 1MDB-linked funds seized by the Swiss monetary authorities from several Swiss banks;
– Refusal of the Attorney-General to initiate proceedings to lay claim to the Equanimity luxury superyacht seized by the Indonesian authorities, or for that matter the seized Bombardier from the Singapore authorities or the impounded US$400 million 1MDB-linked funds from the Swiss authorities.
– Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017 where Malaysia plunged to the lowest ranking of 62 out of 180 countries, while other countries which had been far behind Malaysia in earlier TI CPIs poised to overtake Malaysia, eg. China likely to overtake Malaysia in eight years and Indonesia likely to overtake Malaysia in 14 years;
– Expose by Wall Street Journal on March 2 that a top Republican fundraiser close to President Donald Trump had asked as much as US$75 million (RM295 million) from Jho Low to get the United States to stop investigating the 1MDB scandal.
Now yesterday the Malaysian Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia rejected an emergency motion of public importance by the PKR MP for Alor Setar, Gooi Hsiao Leung on the Attorney-General’s refusal to act on behalf of the Malaysian government to lay claim on the billion-ringgit luxury superyacht Equanimity which was seized by the Indonesian authorities in Bali last Wednesday as well as the rejection of numerous questions relating to the 1MDB scandal for the current month-long parliamentary meeting.
Pakatan Harapan MPs who had questions relating to the 1MDB scandal rejected by the Speaker include Amanah MP for Sepang, Mohamed Hanipa Maidin; PKR MP for Bayan Baru Sim Tze Tzin; DAP MP for Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming and AMANAH MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad.
DAP MP for PJ Utara have four questions and I have two questions relating to 1MDB which had been rejected in the current meeting.
My question to ask the Prime Minister whether he would set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the 1MDB scandal was rejected on the ground that it violated Standing Order 23(1)(g) which barred a question which is “likely to prejudice a case under trial, or be asked to any matter which is sub judice”.
I presume the Speaker is referring to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$4.5 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.
How on earth a court case in a foreign land can be used as an excuse to shut out discussion and debate in Parliament in Malaysia on a scandal which had made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy is beyond me, and is a great stain not only on Malaysian Parliament but on parliamentary democracy in Malaysia.
It is one of the things which the voters must change in the forthcoming 14th general elections.
My second question on the 1MDB scandal asking the Prime Minister “membalas dakwaan yang dibuat oleh pemangku timbalan pendakwaraya Amerika Syarikat M. Kendall Day di depan Jawatankuasa Senat Amerika Syarikat pada 17.1.2018 bahawa ‘pegawai 1MDB penyagak telah mencuri USD4.5 bilion dari dana 1MDB di antara tahun 2009 dan 2015’” was rejected also under Standing Order 23(1)(g) on “sub judice”.
The US DoJ suit did not prevent the US Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney-General, Criminal Division, M. Kendall Day from testifying before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs hearing in January this year on “Combating Money-laundering and other forms of illicit finance”, making the following statement with regard to the 1MDB scandal:
“Between 2009 and 2015, those corrupt officials and their associates took more than $4.5 billion from the development fund in four phases.
“These funds were laundered through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts in countries around the world, including Switzerland, Singapore, Luxembourg, and the United States.”
Why then is the Malaysian Parliament using the DoJ case to reject a question which would offer the Prime Minister the opportunity to rebut Kendall Day’s serious charges against Malaysia with regard to the 1MDB scandal and clear Malaysia’s reputaiton?
The Speaker is doing a great disservice to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and the country, unless the charges of corruption and money-laundering, and as the US Attorney-General Jeff Session had recently told an international conference, the 1MDB scandal is the world’s worst kleptocracy, are all true.
May be both the Speaker and the Prime Minister would wish to clarify and comment.
(Media Conference Statement in Parliament on Wednesday, 7th March 2018 at 11.30 am)