MP SPEAKS In his 2016 New Year’s message, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB scandals had been resolved, and were no longer issues in the country.

How wrong the prime minister has been.

Every day since the New Year's Day for the past week, Najib's twin mega scandals have hogged the news headlines, and there was not a single day when there were no multiple news items on the issue, especially on the Internet.

In fact, no other news story in the country could compete with these scandals in terms of their daily coverage, durability and newsworthiness.

It is not for nothing that Najib's twin mega scandals were the reasons why Malaysia was ranked third for the world's “worst corruption scandals in 2015” by ForeignPolicy , a website of Washington Post .

Najib's scandals have repeatedly made history, though not of the sublime or honourable kind.

Apart from going international in catapulting Malaysia into third place as the world's “worst corruption scandals in 2015”, they were featured prominently in yesterday's launch of the Legal Year 2016 in Kuala Lumpur - highlighted not only by Bar Council president Steven Thiru, but also by attorney-general (AG) Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Steven Thiru, representing the views of the Malaysian Bar - which included representatives from the Sabah Law Association and the Advocates Association of Sarawak - demanded a stop to attacks on key institutions investigating the 1MDB scandal and urged for them to continue their probe without interference, while Apandi gave the lame answer that there was “no interference” into the 1MDB investigations.

A most apt response by Malaysians, would be to ask Mohd Apandi to “tell it to the marines!”

Apandi's continued pretence that there had been no interference in the investigations into 1MDB flies in the face of reality and does not sit well with his appointment as AG, which came about as a result of the sudden and shocking sacking of his predecessor, Abdul Gani Patail, on ‘the Day of the Long Knives’ on July 28 last year.

From that day, PM Najib had launched his “purge” of the government - which involved the sacking of Abdul Gani as AG, Muhyiddin Yassin as deputy prime minister, Mohd Shafie Apdal as rural and regional development minister, and the subsequent purges and punitive actions against recalcitrant key officers in various government investigating/enforcement agencies.

How can Apandi glibly claim that there had been no interference in the investigations into 1MDB when he could not explain the following events:

The sudden sacking of Abdul Gani as AG when he was some three months before his compulsory retirement, while the “health” excuse given was a most spurious one which no one believed;
The dissolution of the multi-agency 1MDB special task force headed by Abdul Gani as AG and comprising the Bank Negara governor, the inspector-general of police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner;
The sabotage for over three months of the investigation by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) into the 1MDB by the removal of its chairperson and three other members by the expedient of appointing them as minister and deputy ministers; and
The sudden transfer or arrest of key officers in AG's Chambers, the police, Bank Negara and the MACC involved in 1MDB investigations which, as Thiru described correctly, were “a subversion of the administration of justice.”

This is why Malaysians are entitled to ask: Who is Apandi bluffing when he has not been able to give any cogent or satisfactory response to Thiru's serious charge that 2015 had seen challenges faced by a number of institutions investigating the 1MDB scandal?

Nobody expects Apandi to answer for the derailment of the PAC investigations into 1MDB for over three months - until the appointment of a “cari makan” PAC chairperson or my six-month suspension from Parliament for basically pursuing and demanding an answer from Najib to the question, “Mana RM2.6 billion?” - but he must answer for the other clear instances of interferences with the investigations into the 1MDB scandal, which came within the purview and jurisdiction of the AG’s Chambers.

Apandi's excuse of the difficulty faced by his chambers in balancing confidentiality and public policy cannot apply to his failure to give a satisfactory accounting for the government's serious lapses in good governance in the investigation into 1MDB - why Abdul Gani was sacked as AG, and why he was appointed and agreed to be a party to the serious misgovernance in said sacking.

Additionally, why he did not follow up immediately on the actions proposed to be taken by the 1MDB special task force; whether there was any truth that the AG's Chambers were preparing charges of corruption against the PM when Najib launched his government “purge”; and why the dissolution of said special task force.

Also, not to forget the reasons for the arrests against key officers in the various government investigation/enforcement agencies; and most important of all, why no action had been taken despite the gargantuan 1MDB “debt hole” of RM42 billion according to audited accounts at the end of March 2014, but believed to have mushroomed to some RM55 billion before the 1MDB “rationalisation” in November last year with the sale of its various assets.

Apandi had been reported as saying he was proud that he had passed the test of his first 100 days as AG.

This is Apandi's own assessment, which is of course not the most accurate or reliable, as a person cannot be his own judge.

I doubt Apandi would pass a public opinion poll on whether he had acquitted himself well in his first 100 days.

Would Apandi dare to have Parliament debate a motion on his first 100 days as AG?

Apandi had failed his first 100 days, not only in the handling of Najib's twin mega scandals - in particular, over the sacking of Abdul Gani and his own appointment - he should also give a full accounting for his major lapses and misjudgments, including:

The slew of prosecutions of MPs, opposition leaders and social activists under a variety of draconian laws - including invoking the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) when Parliament had been given an assurance that such draconian measures were aimed only against terrorists; and
The most pernicious and iniquitous legislation in the form of the National Security Council Bill which usurps the constitutional powers of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the cabinet, the Sarawak and Sabah state governments - as promised in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 - and the 11 state governments in the peninsula, thus paving way for a prime ministerial dictatorship.

As the PM's chief legal officer, Apandi should advise Najib not to procrastinate and prevaricate any further, and advise the prime minister that his New Year’s message claiming that his twin mega scandals are no longer issues among Malaysians was just an empty pipe-dream because they remain as real and even bigger than ever.

Moreover, he should make a clean breast by giving a full and satisfactory accounting of the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandals before the special parliamentary session on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) on Jan 26 and 27, or the prime minister's credibility will not be able to be redeemed at all.

LIM KIT SIANG is the MP for Gelang Patah and DAP parliamentary leader.