In sarcastic tone, Lim praises Ahmad Maslan for defending Najib

PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng sarcastically praised BN's Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan for continuously defending former Prime Minister Najib Razak over the 1MDB scandal.

“I am a bit impressed by Pontian (MP) as he defended 1MDB and Pekan (MP Najib) when I see no other MPs willing to take this role," he said when winding up the 2019 Budget committee stage at Dewan Rakyat today.

Lim described the effort as an act of a "desperado".

This came after Ahmad, who is a former deputy finance minister, asked Lim to update the balance on the 1MDB assets.

A startled Lim said: "I don't understand, (you) still believe there are assets with 1MDB. Where are the assets?

"The Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) final report on 1MDB had recommended that the subsidiaries and assets of 1MDB, such as Bandar Malaysia, TRX, Air Itam and Pulau Indah land, to be surrendered to the Finance Ministry Inc.

"Finance Ministry Inc, in a press release dated May 4, 2016, agreed to the recommendation of PAC."

Other assets of 1MDB, which included energy assets, were sold at a loss, he added.

The DAP secretary-general also pointed out the alleged tampering of reports on 1MDB, including the one prepared by PAC, which he said led to the lack of accountability.

To this, Ahmad said: "That was said by former 1MDB CEO (Arul Kanda Kandasamy), I myself don't know anything."

"How can you trust the 1MDB CEO? That's the problem," replied Lim.

However, Ahmad insisted that he had no reason not to believe Arul Kanda, who he said was a professional and spoke about 1MDB assets publicly.

"If you claim that he had lied, I don't believe 100 percent. I believe in both Arul Kanda and you at a certain percentage but you cannot force me to believe in you 100 percent," he said.

Lim (photo) replied: "That's your choice. But remember, I never cheated a single sen of public fund, unlike Arul Kanda and others involved in 1MDB.

"I am impressed, Pontian has remained loyal to Najib, 1MDB and Arul Kanda, no one is like you. Congratulations!"

To Lim's surprise, Ahmad thanked the finance minister for his remark.

'No reason for Arul Kanda to lie'

In a press conference at the Parliament lobby later, Ahmad said he was confident that there was no reason for Arul Kanda to lie to the general public about 1MDB's assets and liabilities.

He said it was impossible for the total 1MDB debt amount to be RM50.9 billion if not for Lim totalling the number by including the interests.

"He (Lim) said it was true that the principal debt was RM31 billion but when totalled with the interests it is RM50.9 billion.

"The minister had purposely included interests (in the calculation). For me, based on the principles of accounting, what should be mentioned was the current debt amount, because it can be paid at any time.

"(Thus) it is impossible for it to be RM50.9 billion as said by the finance minister in his speech," said Ahmad.

The former deputy finance minister added that he was not satisfied with Lim for failing to list out all 1MDB's assets when asked in the Parliament.

He said those mentioned by Lim were not the whole list, and want Lim to be transparent over the matter.

"Why should I believe him 100 percent? Why shouldn't I believe Arul Kanda 100 percent?

"That is my choice to believe what Arul Kanda said, that 1MDB had RM42 billion worth of assets while its debts at RM31 billion.

"(And thus) if the assets are liquidated surely the debts are no longer a problem. This is why I still have hope that the 1MDB rationalisation plan would be successful."

Ahmad then trained his gun on the Pakatan Harapan government, whom he alleged wanting the rationalisation plan to fail.

"I believe that they are trying to fail the plan on purpose because to them, it was because of 1MDB that they got to win the election," he said.

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