Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should bear responsibility for 1MDB’s alleged misappropriation of funds because he was the chairperson of its board of advisers, former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
As chairperson of the board, Muhyiddin said, Najib was directly involved in all the decision-makings related to the company’s transactions.
“Because of this misappropriation of funds, 1MDB is now bearing a RM53 billion liability.
“And if it is unable to pay, the responsibility falls on the government to pay by utilising taxpayers' money.
“In the end, the people have to bear the burden caused by the misappropriation of funds,” Muhyiddin said.
He added that the cabinet ministers should also take full responsibility for the 1MDB scandal.
“(What’s) even more unfortunate (is) when most of the cabinet ministers whom I know and have information on irregularities in 1MDB, particularly involving the prime minister, have chosen to remain quiet.
“Not a single minister dares to come forward to tell the truth; instead, there are those among them who feel comfortable to conspire in defending evils.
“This is the darkest episode in the history of leadership of our country. Those who choose to defend evils and protect falsehood are actually unfit to lead this country,” Muhyiddin said.
He also pointed out that the strongest evidence of malpractice in the 1MDB scandal is US financial daily The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) exposé about a letter from Bank Negara Malaysia to Public Accounts Committee chairperson Hasan Arifin.
Questionable sources of funds
Muhyiddin alleged that the letter confirmed that the company Good Star Limited, which received payments totalling US$1.03 billion (about RM4.2 billion) from 1MDB, belongs to Jho Low, a close aide of the prime minister’s stepson, Riza Aziz, who is now being investigated by the US authorities for purchasing properties worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the country using questionable sources of funds.
“Payments that should be made to joint-venture companies – 1MDB and Petrosaudi – were deposited into the account of a company owned by an individual with no link to the joint venture.
“More suspiciously, this individual is closely associated with the family of the prime minister and is known to be the intermediary in 1MDB dealings involving the prime minister himself.
“I urge the authorities in Malaysia to be more transparent and serious in their investigations into 1MDB. It is unfortunate that until today, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is disallowed from seeking Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) to collect evidences on irregularities in 1MDB and the SRC International, overseas,” Muhyiddin added.
The former deputy premier also finds it unfortunate that attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has not found any evidence of misconduct that would enable prosecution to be carried out against individuals involved in the 1MDB scandal.
This despite the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority’s (Finma) investigation on BSI Bank which had recently uncovered money-laundering activities involving transactions totalling hundreds of millions in US dollars in 100 accounts at BSI bank.
Following the investigation, Muhyiddin said Singapore authorities had charged a BSI bank official and ordered the bank to be shut down because of its involvement in 1MDB’s financial scandal.
“All these facts clearly pointed out the occurrences of large-scale money laundering involving hundreds of millions of dollar in dealings associated with 1MDB.
“Prior to this, the attorney-general of Switzerland, Micheal Lueber, had revealed that a total of US$4 billion (about RM16.3 billion) of 1MDB’s money is feared to have dissipated (misappropriated).
“(So) based on a report by the PAC, a total of US$7 billion (about RM28.6 billion) could not be traced, or in other word, had vanished.
“Does this exposure by Finma on money laundering at BSI Bank in Singapore part of 1MDB's money which is said to have disappeared?” Muhyiddin asked.
