COMMENT | Dear MO1,

Unlike the past, I am not going to address you as “Yang Berhormat” (YB). I am not being impolite. Translated, it means the “Right Honourable”. Your conduct over the funds of the 1Malaysia Development Fund (1MDB) has been nothing honourable.

I pride myself as a journalist. It will not need a forensic auditor and time-consuming investigations to poke holes in your assertions and contentions over the past two days.

I have been keeping tabs on the issues related to the 1MDB’s missing billions over the years. You have vindicated my belief that a massive attempt had been made to cover the shenanigans in the company, especially with its finances. Through your statements, you attempt to imply that you’re an angel who has been falsely ostracised and vilified by political opponents.

On Monday, you issued a statement, with documents, to show that you received US$100 million (RM420 million) from Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Saud. I will accept this on face value, but I am wondering what took you so long to release the letter? It was dated Feb 1, 2011.

You could have released the letter to counter the Asian Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which broke the story in July 2015. You could have avoided the entire furore and the rakyat would have believed and trusted you. Who knows, you could still be the Prime Minister today. And if that had happened, this commentary would have never seen publication!

Even when the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions branded your dealings as “kleptocracy at its worst”, you maintained elegant silence. Understandably so - with one letter, you could supposedly account for only a fraction of the US$681 million (RM2.6 billion) which found its way into your personal account in AmBank.

Like DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang and the majority of right-minded Malaysians, I believe you had been feeding the public with a series of misinformation - aided and abetted by your then cabinet colleagues, your aides and cronies. No one believed you then and no one believes you now on anything you say on 1MDB.