Veteran newsman A Kadir Jasin, who is another staunch critic of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, also agreed that heads in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MBD) must roll.

Failing which, Kadir argued, the ailing firm cannot be rescued, nor the truth uncovered.

“There is no way for any attempt to uncover the truth about 1MDB to be successful, or for any attempt to solve the problem, if the people responsible are still around.

“These people should either be sacked or they should resign, including the president (Arul Kanda). They don’t have to wait.

“It is impossible to investigate and rescue the firm if the same people are holding the record books,” Kadir told Malaysiakini today.

He was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyidin Yassin, who called for the 1MDB board of directors to be sacked and investigated.

He also noted that despite informing Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of this, nothing happened.

Suspend the controllers

Citing the AirAsia crash last December, Kadir said the first step taken by the Indonesian government was to suspend the air traffic controllers.

“This was done to prevent them from manipulating the data.

“So, with 1MDB, how do you investigate when the same people are there, holding the books and records?

“What Muhyiddin said is only a small fraction of what should be done to ensure that a fair investigation is carried out,” Kadir added.

The firm is being audited by the National Audit Department and a report is expected to be released next month.

Both Najib and 1MDB have called on all quarters to wait for the report.

However, the prime minister’s leading critic, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, dismissed this argument.

"Asking people not to ask any questions until after the auditor-general's report comes out is silly.

"It is like seeing someone robbing and the public must wait until the court case is over before talking about it," the former prime minister had said.