DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has listed four things which must be done when Parliament reconvenes next Monday to redeem national honour and reputation.
“Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Parliament must redeem national honour and reputation, and at least four things must be done when Parliament reconvenes on Monday,” he said in a ceramah in Kuala Terengganu early this morning.
First, he said the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB must be tabled to Parliament on the first day of the Dewan Rakyat sitting on May 16.
Second, he reiterated that Najib must present a White Paper to give a comprehensive account on the latest on the 1MDB scandal.
Third, Lim said they must set three days aside for a wide-ranging debate on 1MDB in Parliament.
Lastly, there must be a directive to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to re-open investigation into the 1MDB scandal, he said.
This must be done for the sake of the country, he explained, following international media exposes on the 1MDB scandals that were published yesterday.
The first is the report by the Financial Times, which said that leaks and settlement documents involving Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI) revealed how the bank assisted in helping cash-flushed but suspect individuals evade tax authorities.
Documents from the US Justice Department's settlement with BSI in 2013 showed that the bank used various techniques to help its clients move vast amounts of money around, the report said.
Another report yesterday was from Singapore-based Today Online, where former private banker Yeo Jiawei was charged with facilitating the transfer of US$11.95 million (RM48 million) from SRC International to Affinity Equity International Partners, a company owned by Tan Kim Loong.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had previously reported that Tan was the beneficiary owner of Tanore Finance when it was first set up, the same British Virgin Islands entity that sent US$681 million to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s personal bank accounts.
In a separate story, WSJ reported yesterday that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking into Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz’s purchase of two luxury properties in its investigation into 1MDB.
Investigators believe at least US$50 million originating from 1MDB were spent on the properties in New York and Los Angeles.
“These three international media exposes yesterday constitute a triple shame for Malaysia,” Lim said.
It is a shame that the Parliament continues to pretend that Najib’s scandals are a figment of imagination by the prime minister’s enemies, he lamented.
It is also a shame that the PAC failed to uncover financial frauds, money-laundering and corrupt practices which are now staple of international media reporting on 1MDB, he added.
The third shame is that Malaysia’s investigative and enforcement agencies, in particular the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia and the police, have proven to be “ineffective and inefficient” bodies as compared to their counterparts in other countries.
