I am completely baffled by the reaction of the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that it is okay for the Public Accounts Committee to re-open its probe into 1MDB but it should not focus on finding faults.
Is Najib grounded in reality or living in a world of his own delusion that the 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal is all fake news and that the US Department of Justice litigation on what the United States Attorney-General described as “kleptocracy at its worst” simply does not exist?
The Finance Minister today gave notice of a motion directing the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to conduct again a detailed investigation on the embezzlement of monies and the scandal with regard to 1MDB and its related companies in order to restore the dignity of the Dewan Rakyat and for all related information to be made public.
Surely Najib cannot be so obtuse or befuddled by delusion as not to understand the far-reaching implications of this motion when it is passed by Parliament tomorrow.
Firstly, it would mean that Najib would have to appear before the PAC to fully account for the 1MDB scandal.
Secondly, Parliament through the PAC would be able to restore the dignity of the Malaysian Parliament by satisfactorily addressing the international 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which was the main reason why Malaysian was regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy, with its attendant infamy, ignominy and iniquity.
Thirdly, for the first time, the mountain of allegations of 1MDB corruption, embezzlent and misappropriation in the US Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation could be examined in Malaysia.
The assertion in the US DOS litigation that there was an “international conspiracy to launder money misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Berhad” resulting in numerous assets in the United States and other countries, like the billion-ringgit Equanimity luxury superyacht, cannot go unexamined.
In particular the PAC should examine the serious allegation contained in Paragraph 7 of the 958-Paragraph litigation (251 pages) and report its finding to the Malaysian Parliament, viz:
“1MDB was ostensibly created to pursue investment and development projects for the economic benefit of Malaysia and its people, primarily relying on the issuance of various debt securities to fund these projects. However, over the course of an approximately five-year period, between approximately 2009 and at least 2014, multiple individuals, including public officials and their associates, conspired to fraudulently divert billions of dollars from 1MDB through various means, including defrauding foreign banks and by sending foreign wire communications in furtherance of the scheme, and thereafter, to launder the proceeds of that criminal conduct, including in and through U.S. financial institutions. The funds diverted from 1MDB were used for the personal benefit of the co-conspirators and their relatives and associates, including to purchase luxury real estate in the United States and overseas, pay gambling expenses at Las Vegas casinos, acquire more than US$200 million in artwork, purchase lavish gifts for family members and associates, invest in a major New York real estate development project, and fund the production of major Hollywood films. 1MDB maintained no interest in these assets and saw no returns on these investments.”
The PAC should comb through the mountian of allegations of corruption, embezzlement and misappropriation of 1MDB funds through four principal phases detailed in the US DoJ litigation.
Fourthly, the PAC would be able to unmask the identity of “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (M01) mentioned 36 times in the US DOJ litigation, described in the litigation as “a high-ranking official in the Malaysian government who also held a position of authority with 1MDB”.
I said yesterday that I was shocked by Najib’s statement on Monday that if 1MDB masterrmind Jho Low had obtained the Equanimity luxury superyacht illegally, as using money that wasn’t his, Jho Low needs to be held accountable – as Najib was putting up a pretence that he had not read the United States DoJ expanded kleptocratic litigation filed in California in June 2017 which explained in great detail how Jho Low had bought Equanimity with embezzled 1MDB funds and which was easily accessible on the Internet.
But we must be thankful to Najib for his comments though they will end up as more ammunition against himself to unearth scandals and abuses of power in the Najib premiership.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on Tuesday, August 15, 2018)