Three days ago, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in US alleged that more than US$1 billion worth of assets owned by three individuals: Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, Jho Low, a Malaysian business tycoon (based in the US) and Khadem Al-Qubaisy, former managing director of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), could be from the money stolen from 1MDB.

Those assets are: luxury condominiums in New York and California, Monet’s and Van Gogh’s art work and a Bombardier jet.

Only a civil case

Though repeated umpteen times that the charges against the above said individuals are not criminal but a civil case, the badly-injured naysayers from the past Sarawak state and twin by-elections adamantly hold on to the unsubstantiated information about the DOJ’s allegations.

Leave aside the opposition, even the allegedly scandal-smeared former Umno leaders like Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin also jumped on the bandwagon, saying Najib is blamable for the DOJ’s claims against the purported 1MDB-linked assets, despite Najib’s name not being mentioned even once by the US’s attorney-general.

And what made them so sure that the purported account under the name ‘Malaysian Official 1' belongs to Najib?! The name itself reflects that its more of a plot to oust Najib, a democratically-elected leader.

Not guilty until proven so

The charged trio are not guilty until proven otherwise. So, its not fair at all in the first place to label them as the enemies of the state. And its even immature to link Najib by citing that Riza Aziz is the Malaysian prime minister’s stepson.

Apart from that, in this case, DOJ has clearly stated that the stolen money belongs to 1MDB, though this has been denied by the state-owned company as it claimed that all the money spent has been accounted for and no money has been used to buy the purported properties in US. Thus, 1MDB officials suspect that the money used to buy the assets could have been from the US$6 billion paid to Aabar Investment PJS (BVI).

However, it is worth noting that the IPIC has denied its ownership over this company.

The detractors failed to learn

Having said this, the detractors, especially Dr M’s allies, failed to learn that the DOJ’s allegation is not the last nail to Najib’s coffin and they still have a long way to go to prove the assets bought are from laundered money.

The opposition leaders, Dr M and Muhyiddin Yassin probably can try their level best to oust Najib by harshly criticising him over his blunders as 1MDB’s top official, but the definite end result will be the same - Najib will be the PM for at least until the coming general election. And as usual, the DOJ’s case against the trio will fade away over the years as the other 1MDB cases.

Opposition should work towards unity

Meanwhile, the opposition’s survival is expected to take a severe beating should Dr M’s new party becomes a reality. This is because forming a new party comprising of veterans is not only going to shoo away the youngsters’ support but is also expected to further split the number of votes the opposition used to gain. Therefore, it is advisable for them to concentrate more on uniting the opposition coalition instead of plotting against the mighty PM, Najib.