Former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said he could not recall whether he was present during the National Economic Council deliberations on overseas properties which later became embroiled in scandals.

He said he had been a member of the council for some time, and therefore could not remember some of the specifics of what transpired in its meetings.

“I was in the economic council but I cannot remember whether matters of that sort had been deliberated when I was at the meeting.

“As a deputy prime minister, I do sit in the economic council where we make decisions collectively […].

“I don’t remember. I had been the deputy prime minister for five years, right? All kinds of matters were discussed, so wallahu a’lam (God knows better), I no longer remember certain cases,” he told a press conference in Johor Baru today.

He was asked whether he was a part of the National Economic Council when it deliberated Majlis Amanah Rakyat’s (Mara) plan to purchase Dudley House and other properties in Australia, or the Federal Land Authority’s (Felda) plan to purchase a hotel in London.

Muhyiddin was the deputy prime minister from 2009 until 2016.

Dudley House was one of four Mara properties in Australia that became embroiled in the “Mara Scandal” that erupted in 2015 when the matter surfaced in the Australian media.

Among others, it was reported that Mara officials had used government funds to jack up the price of Dudley House in Melbourne from A$17.8 million (RM51.5 million) to A$22.5 million (RM65 million). The extra A$4.75 million (RM13.7 million) was allegedly sent back to Malaysia as kickbacks.

The deal would have required approval by the National Economic Council after getting the green light from the Mara Council and the Ministry of Finance. Approval was reportedly given in 2013.

Felda’s hotel in Kensington meanwhile is now a part of an ongoing Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) probe for alleged bribery, and several Felda officials including its former chairperson Mohd Isa Abdul Samad had been arrested to facilitate the investigation.

The hotel was allegedly purchased well above its initial price between 2013 and 2015.

Meanwhile, when asked about the Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s statement that the government is willing to consider launching a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the 1985 Memali Incident, Muhyiddin said people are still waiting for an RCI on the 1MDB scandal.

He said the government’s move to open the ongoing RCI on the 1990’s Forex Scandal and now mull over the Memali RCI is politically motivated, rather than being motivated by an interest in fact-finding.

If the government is sincere about finding answers for major issues like this (1MDB), why does it not form a commission as proposed before?

“I think that is the most important thing because it is still ongoing today. Why not make the decision (to form an RCI on 1MDB) if the demand to do so has been made?

“The demand came not just from opposition parties, but also many other parties for years so that the cause of the issue can be found. An RCI is among the best ways to investigate issues related to 1MDB,” he said.