DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang has questioned whether Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will proceed to attend the Asean-Australia Summit in Sydney this weekend amid mounting international scrutiny on the 1MDB scandal.
"Maybe Najib can use his Sydney trip to the Asean-Australia Summit to begin to answer the myriad questions about the 1MDB scandal, which he had been dodging in the past three years, although 1MDB scandal continues to dog him wherever he goes, whether nationally or internationally.
"But the first question first – is Najib flying to Sydney for the Asean-Australia Summit?" asked Lim in a statement.
The Gelang Patah MP also questioned whether various developments surrounding global investigations on 1MDB, including in Switzerland and Australia, would be raised to Najib during the two-day event.
The Swiss Parliament had yesterday voted out a motion seeking the repatriation of the Swiss government’s seizure of some RM430 million funds from Swiss banks, allegedly linked to 1MDB, to the people of Malaysia.
Lim, however, pointed out that Najib and the Malaysian government have not come out of the Swiss parliamentary motion and scrutiny smelling like roses as the motion was defeated only because it was too broad and raised issues on the separation of powers.
1MDB previously said that the motion tabled was not specific to the company and only drafted in general terms.
1MDB had also denied ownership of the RM430 million, or that any of its money had been misappropriated.
'Australian expose'
Lim, meanwhile, also highlighted how the son of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Alex Turnbull, had claimed that he was a victim of the 1MDB scandal after allegedly sidelined when he acted as a "whistleblower" for purported misconduct in Goldman Sachs bank in Singapore in its dealings with 1MDB.
Aside from Alex Turnbull, Lim also pointed out how Australian supermodel, Miranda Kerr, had made international headlines last year when she handed over jewellery worth more than US$8.1 million (RM35 million), which was allegedly purchased for her by Jho Low, with funds purportedly misappropriated from 1MDB.
"Will the latest 1MDB scandal developments, whether the motion in the Swiss Parliament yesterday or the expose of the Australian Prime Minister’s son, feature in the Asean-Australia Summit in Sydney tomorrow and Sunday, or at least in the bilateral meetings between Najib and Malcolm Turnbull?
"Or will Najib make a last-minute decision to back out of the Asean –Australia Special Summit and send his deputy instead to attend the Sydney summit?" Lim further questioned.
Najib has denied all wrongdoings linked to 1MDB and attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali had also previously cleared him of any related wrongdoings.
According to Wisma Putra, Najib is scheduled to attend a working visit in Sydney this weekend, accompanied by his wife Rosmah Mansor, Foreign Affairs Minister Anifah Aman, as well as various other government officers.
