PKR Rembau division head Badrul Hisham Shaharin is giving Prime Minister Najib Razak and First Lady Rosmah Mansor until the end of this month to come clean on their travelling expenses including the latest trip to Perth, a gargantuan RM24 million diamond ring and the Mafia connection to it via an in-law, plus Rosmah's much-talked about Birkin bag collection worth more than a million.
Otherwise, youth movement Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia will proceed to distribute leaflets to inform the people of their rights to question the first couple over their extraordinary lifestyles.
"There is obvious abuse of power and the people must know their rights as taxpayers to demand swift explanation from the federal government. SAMM has gone through the proper channels. We have lodged reports over the RM24 million diamond ring with the MACC on July 13, and we have made police complaints about the use of government jetplane to Perth, but where is the action," Badrul, who also heads SAMM, told Malaysia Chronicle.
"Cheapskate" or official functions
SAMM members had on Friday morning lodged police complaints in Perlis, Pahang and Negri Sembialn over the Perth trip, in which Najib and family were caught slipping quietly out of the country on Malaysia's Independence Day using a government private plane to travel.
To make matters worse, Najib appeared to have tried to link the trip to an official dinner for Malaysian students there, but critics challenged him by pointing out that he left on August 31, a Wednesday, while the 'Raya' dinner was held on Satuday night.
"We are doing this to raise public attention that Najib and Rosmah went on holdiday using the people's money. This was not an official trip but a private holiday. Do they have such a right? Is this not abuse of power? This is why we want the police to investigate, not to gain publicity but to pressure for action against the ones who need to be probed and reined in," said Badrul.
The Kazakh engagaement
This is not the first time Najib and Rosmah have been accused of sweeping their personal expenses into the official billing system. Perhaps the most glaring before the Perth trip was their taking a huge entourage to an official trip to Kazakhstan in June.
News later leaked that Najib's daughter was getting engaged at the same time to the scion of wealthy Kazakh family. Accusations flew that Najib had timed the trip to coincide with the engagement and in the official entourage were scores of personal guests attending the party.
PAS MP for Kuala Selangor Dzulkefly Ahmad called Najib a "cheapskate", while his colleagues in the opposition have promised to demand answers in Parliament. However, the Prime Minister's Office has so far refused to detail breakdowns of the expenses, especially when these concerned the solo trips made by Rosmah to the Middle East, which her critics insist were "shopping sprees" disguised as official functions.
As for Najib's supporters, UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has been the quickest to leap to his defense, raising eyebrows as it is well-known that Najib is not fond of him.
“PM’s Kazakh trip planned long before daughter’s engagement. In fact return visit for President Nazarbayev’s Msia trip DURING Pak Lah’s time,” Khairy had posted this morning on Twitter to debunk Dzulkefly's accusations.
It is still the ring of fire and the Mafia connection
But all of the Najib-Rosmah shenanigans, perhaps the most breath-taking is still the gorgeous natural-grey cushion-cut diamond ring worth RM24 million, according to the Malaysian Customs' database and US$24 million by Indonesia's top newspaper Kompas.
No one knows how many carats the diamond actually is but talk among the coffee-shops that dot the nation is that it is the size of a Mrs Fields chocolate chip-and-macadamia nut cookie! Exaggeration or not, 24 million ringgit or US can sure buy a lot of diamond.
Not only that, Malaysian were later tantalized by news that the ring was part of daughter Nooryana's dowry and a personal gift to Rosmah from Kazakh mum-in-law Maira Nazarbayev (pic, in white gown). But before this gossip could even peak, another bombshell exploded - Maria was allegedly connected to the Russian Mafia.
The entire issue may seem more in place between the covers of Jackie Collins paperback but amongs the wealthy society that frequent Monte Carlo are many jetsetters with the most dubious backgrounds. Both Najib and Sarawak Chief MinisterTaib Mahmud have been frequentling this hotspot, where money changes hand at the most rapid speed with no questions asked. The Bruno Manser Fund has even accused Taib of being one of Monte Carlo's biggest investors.
"As we have said, Najib and Rosmah have to come clean. Are they are spending beyond the means of the PM's salary? Did voters put the PM in his chair so that he can go on trips all over the world? Is it that once he is PM, he does not have to answer to the people and can do as he pleases? If he does, then this is abuse of power and this is what we want to highlight to the people. The people have right to stop their leaders from simply spending their hard-earned money," said Badrul.
Najib's media advisers recently announced that Kompas had apologized to him over their news report on the ring and Maira's Mafia connection. Hiowever, this has made even murkier the situation as a check with Kompas showed that it has not retracted the report nor apologized for it.
- Malaysia Chronicle
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