The furore over the video of former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Abu Kassim Mohamad’s speech in 2011 over the RM24 million diamond ring has only focussed national attention on 1MDB scandal mastermind, Jho Loh’s RM144 million 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace for the wife of the then Prime Minister, Rosmah Mansor.
Most Malaysians have forgotten about the RM24 million diamond ring episode as what they remember is the infamous US$27.3 million (RM144 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond set in a necklace, which the US Department of Justice alleged was bought by Malaysian billionaire, Low Taek Jho or Jho Low, the other “king pin” of the 1MDB scandal, with stolen 1MDB money for the wife of “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1).
We must thank the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the director of Barsian Nasional Strategic Communications Unit, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan for admitting to the whole world in a BBC interview that “MO1” is none other than Najib Razak and therefore the beneficiary of the US$27.3 million 22-carat pink diamond necklace is none other than Rosmah Mansor.
Why revive the story over the RM24 million diamond ring but maintain silence over the RM144 million pink diamond necklace?
Now that the RM1 billion luxury Equanimity luxury superyacht is in Malaysian waters and custody, Malaysians are entitled to know of the whereabout of the RM144 million pink diamond necklace.
Malaysiakini story on the furore titled “Ex-MACC boss: Customs officers ‘retaliated’ against Najib, sparked ‘diamond ring’ saga” said the episode was before Abu Kassim “knew the truth about the 1MDB after being shown by the US Department of Justice and FBI evidence in the 1MDB case”.
The report said Abu Kassim wanted to pursue the case “But at that time, the situation was not conducive and that was why he asked for early retirement in 2016”,
This is why the Public Accounts Committee, whose Chairman and Deputy Chairman were appointed by Parliament last week should re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal, as it is clear that that the PAC of the 13th Parliament had done a great national disservice with its PAC Report tabled in Parliament in April 2016, and when it refused to re-open investigations after the mountain of new evidence about the 1MDB scandal in the US Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kindom and Switzerland in July 2016.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 11th August 2018)