Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and former Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairperson Idris Jusoh should at least apologise for allowing the Mara Inc Melbourne property scandal to take place, said Pandan MP Mohd Rafizi Ramli.

 

He said it was not fair that only the officers implicated in such scandals have to face the music, while the approving authorities escape responsibility.

 

“I think for once, we should take examples of more mature democracies. If there are scandals like this, the highest approving authority must take responsibility and should resign. If he doesn’t want to resign because he loves his RM40,000 salary too much, never mind. Apologise […]

 

“At the very least apologise to the public that there has been a gross negligence on their part – that they have allowed properties (to be) bought with Mara money at RM129 million more than what it was purchased before that,” he told a press conference today.

Rafizi said this in response to the suspension of Mara Inc chairperson Mohammad Lan Allani and CEO Abd Halim Rahim announced on Thursday last week, in response to the scandal.

 

Najib chairs the National Economic Council while Idris was the Mara chairperson at the time of the transactions in 2012 and 2013.

 

Both would have to approve the purchase before Mara’s investment arm can go ahead with the transactions.

Rafizi said since the scandal broke, Idris has been keeping quiet as though hoping that he would escape notice.

He also said that now is time to change Malaysia’s culture of accountability - from to top to bottom, rather than from bottom-up.

Mara Inc’s four purchases in Melbourne have come under scrutiny after the Australian media reported a fortnight ago claiming that one of them, Dudley International House, had been bought at an inflated price, the excess of which was paid as kickbacks to Malaysian officials.

Since then, Rafizi has held a series of press conferences today and over the past week alleging that Mara Inc had also paid well above market price for the three other properties.