Public ‘laughing to death’ on 1MDB statement

Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak urged to respond urgently to statement by 1MDB Chief.

GEORGE TOWN: Batu Kawan Umno division deputy chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan, the man very much in the news since lodging a police report on the 1MDB scandal, has taken issue with a statement on Wed by Lodin Wok Kamaruddin, the man who heads the sovereign wealth fund.

The statement, he stressed, has brought 1MDB into further public disrepute and contempt. He urged Prime Minister and Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak to respond urgently on the matter.

Khairuddin pointed out that Lodin’s claim that 1MDB’s funds are not from the tax payer except for RM1 million from the Finance Ministry in the form of equity, is not only laughable but “ludicrous”. The public are laughing to death on his statement, he added. “Does he think that the public are so stupid as to swallow his statement?”

“The public are furious with Lodin,” fumed Khairuddin. “Is he trying to justify the scandal at 1MDB? Does having no taxpayers funds, which is not true anyway, make the scandal excusable or go away?”

“Is he trying to say that the funds raised by 1MDB have nothing to do whatsoever with the Federal Government and taxpayers’ funds?”

Khairuddin asked about the status of the public lands handed over by the Government to 1MDB at very low premiums.

The Umno Penang man reminded Lodin that he has yet to answer so far all the queries raised by him on the scandal and as a result he was forced to lodge a police report on the matter.

“I am still waiting for Lodin and 1MDB to address the issues that I have raised,” he said. “After that, I will give my response. They need to speak first. Talk some sense.”