YOURSAY ‘Whether it was used for personal gain is a secondary question.’
Najib: Task force probing 'if I used funds'
Aries46: PM Najib Razak's interpretation of the role of the special task force as to determine whether he used 1MDB funds for his personal interest is laughable.
Either he is joking or he must take Malaysians for utter fools. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) expose is simply that 1MDB funds amounting to approximately US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) found its way into his personal bank account.
That should be the core of the investigation. Not whether he spent it on himself or whatever he did with it.
If the WSJ report is proven to be true, many crimes have been committed by those who abetted it, including heads of watchdog units such as AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers), PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police), MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia), etc. if they had knowingly turned the other way.
The fact that the task force has stayed silent all these months until information was leaked to WSJ breeds suspicion and does not reflect well on its integrity.
And Najib's above assertions as to its silly terms of investigation belies the independence of the task force and the authenticity of its finding as it was set up by him and reports to him.
Sirach: Indeed, all the task force has to establish is whether the 1MDB money went into Najib's personal accounts. Everything else is of little consequence. If it did, then he'd better have a very good explanation. Otherwise, he is toast.
Commentable: The scope of the special task force investigation is to probe whether Najib used 1MDB funds for his personal interest? Najib, are you the one who gave out this special instruction to the task force?
You mean to say if the so-called task force concluded that all those public funds allegedly parked in your personal accounts were used for the general election, or on Umno or for your wife to spend, then it is okay?
That it's all above board and no crime committed? That this is legally provided for under the Bolehland Exemption of Law Act 2014? Hey WSJ, take note of that and apologise to Najib.
Wg321: Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz should check the bank statements of Najib’s personal accounts from January to December 2013 whether the money was used for buying a diamond watch for Najib’s wife or use it to finance the GE13 campaign in 2013.
Malaysiakini has given an excellent account why Bank Negara failed in its duty to monitor the movement of huge amount of money entering the country.
According to the Anti-Money Laundering guidelines, any transaction above RM50,000 should raise a red flag among banks, which are then required to conduct "customer due diligence" (CDD) by identifying the account holder, and the person who ultimately owns the accounts.
Anonymous #19098644: The role of the task force is to determine the facts and the truth. First, does this account exist? Second, whose account is it?
Third, was the US$700 million transacted? Fourth, what was the source of the funds and fifth, where did the funds go to? And lastly, were the anti-money laundering, foreign exchange control acts breached.
Najib, if it is not your account and the transaction did not take place, you have nothing to worry about. The people will support you.
If it is your account and the transaction has taken place, not only are you a pathological liar, but you have betrayed the people, the country and your oath of office.
Now get the facts and tell the truth - that is all the task force needs to do.
Anonymous 759201436321741: The scope of the investigation by the special task force - whether Najib has used the money for personal gains - is very narrow, specific and the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
Only compelling new evidence from WSJ, Sarawak Report or former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad could keep the case in a fluid state and prolong it. But the war is not over until it is over.
Optimist: We are going around in circles - the question requiring a response is whether the said monies were credited into the said bank accounts.
So, the task force should establish that fact first. Whether it was used for personal purposes is a secondary question.
Pemerhati: Najib so far has not denied that RM2.6 billion was deposited into his account but repeatedly says that he did not take 1MDB funds for his personal interest or gain.
Since any innocent person will quickly and strongly deny if a wrong accusation is made against him, it is reasonable to assume that Najib’s silence on the matter strongly indicates that RM2.6 billion was indeed deposited into his account.
Perhaps Najib is correct when he says he did not use funds for personal use because he could have given hundreds of millions, from the billions deposited into his account, to the many Umno leaders for use during the 2013 elections.
He could have also given hundreds of millions to people like Jho Low who then passed on the money to people like Rosmah Mansor’s son, who we know from news reports, used the money to buy expensive real estate in the United States and invest in the Hollywood movie business.
As all the members of the task force are beholden to Najib, their report will be worse than useless.
Vent: In most mature democracies, a besieged PM would have either resigned by now or taken leave of office while waiting to clear his name.
Secondly, any task force or investigative committee set up to probe the allegations against him would comprise a group of persons not beholden to him in past or present service to the nation.
Only in La-La Land can these four musketeers be nominated to what is purportedly an independent body. No prizes for guessing the outcome of the ‘probe’ now.
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