The RM270 million 1MDB civil forfeiture suits against 41 local individuals and groups is a good and great start by Latheefa Koya as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief.

This is the largest forfeiture action in the nation’s history, caused by the dispersal to the 41 respondents from former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal AmBank account.

The immediate response by the acting UMNO president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan that UMNO will fight the civil forfeiture suits in court is showing to Malaysians the real kleptocratic colours of UMNO, that the curse of kleptocracy is not just the transgressions of one person but the fault of the entire UMNO leadership – and even the previous Cabinet!

Is Mohamad Hassan and the UMNO leadership claiming that the 1MDB scandal, which is being investigated in 10 countries, and for which banks in foreign countries had been fined and closed and bankers in foreign countries had been convicted of money-laundering crimes and imprisoned, was just a figment of imagination of the MACC?

As out of the RM270 million civil forfeiture suits, RM212 million (78.5 percent) was sought from Umno divisions, is the UMNO leadership prepared now to admit to the reality of the 1MDB scandal which made Malaysia a global kleptocracy and declare how it is prepared to co-operate with the anti-corruption authorities to purge Malaysia of the infamy, ignominy and iniquity of the 1MDB global kleptocracy?

Is the UMNO leadership prepared to restore to public coffers the monies laundered from the 1MDB scandal or is the UMNO leadership claiming that UMNO had not benefitted a single sen from the mega 1MDB scandal?

I had expressed the hope that as the first year of the Pakatan Harapan government was a year to nab the kleptocrats, the second year of the Pakatan Harapan government should become a year to bring the sharks of corruption to justice, so as to achieve the Malaysian Dream of Malaysia becoming a leading nation of integrity recognised and respected by the world.

With the filing of the RM270 million 1MDB civil forfeiture suits against 41 individuals and groups, and the establishment of a new task force involving the MACC, the National Finance Crime Centre (NFCC) and the National Governance, Integrity and Anti-Corruption Centre (GIACC) to recover an estimated US$5 billion (RM20.75 billion) worth of 1MDB-linked assets from abroad, the anti-corruption battle and mission in Malaysia are in good hands.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 21st June 2019)