Police have been warned not to try and protect the debt-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which may result in an erosion of trust in the force.

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang said this after inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar warned that cops will probe document leaks which exposed Tabung Haji’s (TH) land purchase from cash-strapped 1MDB.

Khalid had claimed the documents were protected under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

“Will the IGP next say that all documents connected with the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal are protected by the OSA?,” said Lim in a statement today,

“Police credibility and integrity will suffer another tumble under the present IGP if the police are seen as protecting  the perpetrators of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal instead of siding with the public and national interest,” added the Gelang Patah MP.

On Wednesday, rumours were circulated online about TH purchasing 1MDB’s land in a bid to help the cash-strapped company, which has accumulated a staggering debt of RM42 billion.

It was later confirmed that TH had paid RM188.5 million for 1.56 acres of the 70-acre Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land owned by 1MDB.

 

1MDB had purchased the entire 70 acres from the government for a mere RM194.1 million.

This translates to a purchase of RM2,773 per square feet by TH, compared to 1MDB which bought the land for only RM64 per square feet from the government.

Umno Youth leader hails TH leak

While police appear less than happy about the leak, others including Umno Youth information chief Jamawi Jaafar hailed the leak.

“As a depositor with Tabung Haji, I have a right to ask, if the information was not leaked, then surely our savings would have been used to purchased 1MDB’s land in TRX?

“Thank you to those who had leaked the information,” he said in a Facebook posting.

The deal, involving the savings of villagers for their pilgrimage to Mecca, has triggered a firestorm, including a revolt from within Umno.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin fired a salvo at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who heads the Finance Ministry that owns 1MDB.

“The rakyat wants to know why no one has been charged, why the 1MDB board has not been sacked, and about the position of the chief executive officer and the prime minister as adviser,” he said.

LTH chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim ( photo ), in a hastily put-together press conference this morning, announced the land it purchased from 1MDB will be resold to a third party as soon as possible to give depositors peace of mind.

He assured that TH will still make a profit from the sales.

Meanwhile, DAP’s Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo also criticised the police for wanting to probe the leak under OSA.

“This is quite ridiculous. It sends out the wrong signal and suppresses efforts to rope in members of the public to assist in investigations.

“If information has come forth of any matter which requires further investigation in the 1MDB-TH land deal, the police should probe that information and not the informer instead,” he said in a statement today.

Echoing this, crime watchdog MyWatch chief Sri Sanjeevan said the police should get their priorities right.

“The inspector-general of police would do better to look at bigger problems which is the misuse of public funds compared to using OSA on whistleblowers,” he said in a statement today.