PARLIAMENT | 1MDB-related information which is unverified will be considered fake news, Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Jailani Johari has said.

“The general definition of fake news is news confirmed as false by authorities with expertise in the matter.

“With regard to 1MDB, the matter has been investigated by the police and (the findings) have been submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers.

“The findings were tabled to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has members from the government and opposition,” he added in his ministerial winding-up speech in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Jailani was responding to questions raised by Tan Kee Kwong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) and Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani) during the debate on the royal address.

Elaborating further, the deputy minister pointed out that the government also accepted and implemented recommendations made by the PAC report.

“Therefore, the government is of the view that apart from information which has been verified, any other information would be classified as fake news,” he added.

Johari (below), however, pointed out that there are still many unanswered questions surrounding the 1MDB issue, and as such the government should not consider the case as having been resolved.

“In the case of 1MDB, the deputy minister cannot say it has been resolved because I was not able to raise questions about it in Parliament…,” he said.

'Not directly involved'

In response, Jailani insisted that if the opposition refuses to believe that the authorities, including the MACC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers, had cleared Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of any wrongdoing, they should at least trust PAC deputy chairperson Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong).

“Kepong has stated that Pekan (Najib) was not directly involved and it instead involved the management (of 1MDB).

“I hope that we will be more gracious because even Kepong has said so, and this issue should not further be turned into a polemic,” he said.

The PAC report on 1MDB was tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2016, and Tan had at the time said that Najib was not directly involved in the mismanagement of the debt-ridden state investment arm.

Since then, multiple jurisdictions have commenced investigations related to 1MDB, which has been described by US attorney-general Jeff Sessions as "kleptocracy at its worst".

The 1MDB scandal once again made global headlines last month, following the seizure of the Equanimity super-yacht linked to businessperson Low Taek Jho in Bali, as well as the Swiss government’s seizure of allegedly misappropriated 1MDB funds.