Stop lying and protecting Jho Low, DAP tells Najib

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot continue to say that there is nothing wrong with 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). – The Malaysian Insider file pic, April 24, 2015.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must stop lying and covering up for Low Taek Jho and the controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a DAP lawmaker said today, amid more revelations of the fund's dubious dealings in a recent series of exposés.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said that Najib must stop protecting Low, also known as Jho Low, by saying that the businessman had nothing to do with 1MDB.

"By failing to tell the truth and allowing Jho Low to continue his global jaunts, the prime minister will only cause Malaysians to speculate on his own complicity in the entire RM42 billion 1MDB monster scandal," Pua said in a statement.

"One could certainly argue that Datuk Seri Najib Razak is like Nero, who fiddled while Rome burns.  While 1MDB burns in the raging fire, the prime minister acts with no sense of urgency to reflect the severity of the crime and crisis taking place."

The DAP national publicity secretary said that despite exposés revealing corruption of billions of dollars, falsified bank statements and the mastermind of 1MDB, Najib maintained that there was nothing wrong.

"Our finance minister (Najib) can still find it appropriate to assure Malaysians that there’s nothing serious happening and we just 'need to give time to 1MDB to develop or liquify their assets'," he said.

"From the information which has been exposed, it is blatantly obvious that Malaysians have been brazenly robbed by Jho Low, abetted by his accomplices and conspirators via 1MDB, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finance Ministry."

Pua was commenting on the exposés by whistleblower site Sarawak Report which revealed yesterday that Jho Low's company Good Star Limited, which allegedly siphoned off millions from 1MDB, was found to have transferred over US$500 million (RM1.8 billion) to one of his accounts in Singapore.

Citing documents from the republic’s monetary authorities, it said the account was under the name of Abu Dhabi-Kuwait-Malaysia Investment Corporation (ADKMIC), of which Low was listed as the beneficial owner.

ADKMIC was the name of the company Low fronted in July 2008, which had previously engaged in the buy-up of a 53% shareholding in the Utama Banking Group (UBG), a company controlled by Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud's family, the report added.

The website's latest exposé follows an earlier report that 1MDB had presented false bank statements to various authorities about the accounts of its subsidiary, Brazen Sky Limited, at the BSI branch in Singapore.

BSI Bank in Singapore is where Putrajaya has said a portion of the 1MDB funds repatriated from the Cayman Islands is being kept.

But Sarawak Report said separate sources in Singapore told it that "there is in fact no actual cash in the relevant 1MDB's BSI account, which was opened under the 1MDB subsidiary company, Brazen Sky Limited, merely 'paper assets' of indeterminate value."

As of January 31, 2015, BSI Singapore Bank reported 2‎6 active accounts beneficially owned by Low, containing a total of just under US$17.5 million, said Sarawak Report.

"The discovery raises critical questions, not least over the status of the US$1.103 billion that 1MDB and the Finance Ministry are currently claiming to be in a separate account at the same bank – money which was supposedly recovered from the original deal.

"After all, if so much of the money flowed out of that deal via Good Star to Jho Low, how has 1MDB managed to retrieve it all back with interest?" Sarawak Report said.

Pua said today that it was "utterly surreal" to see incriminating evidence such as documents and emails being exposed every week on how billions of ringgit were siphoned from 1MDB and yet have the prime minister defend the state investment fund.

“He even defended the parking of the US$1.1 billion of proceeds from the disposal of its investment in the Cayman Islands in BSI Bank, Singapore. He said 1MDB kept the money abroad because they have debts abroad. Instead of bringing the money back to Malaysia, it is better for them to keep it outside because they can earn from the forex etc.”

“Such claims fly in the face of the evidence Malaysians have been presented with on the Internet, particularly via The Sarawak Report,” Pua said.

He also accused Najib of having known before his TV3 interview of the falsified documents, as BSI had revealed that it had forwarded the information to Malaysia on March 13, 2015.

"Under such circumstances, how can the prime minister tell Malaysians with a straight face on national TV that 1MDB’s assets are still worth more than its liability?

"Despite being forced to instruct the Auditor-General to 'verify' the 1MDB accounts signed off by Deloitte Malaysia, it would appear that it was merely a tactic to buy time as no deadline has been set for the investigations to be completed," Pua said.

This comes as Najib continues to face attacks from former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been relentless in criticising the former.

Yesterday, Dr Mahathir took his attacks up a notch when he said 1MDB’s debt of RM42 billion had "disappeared" and Najib's inability to explain the matter disqualified him from leading the country.

Dr Mahathir listed down the known investments of 1MDB, which is owned by the Finance Ministry and whose advisory board is chaired by Najib.

Umno leaders such as Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed have urged Najib to respond to Dr Mahathir’s criticism.

The prime minister took part in an interview on TV3 earlier this month to address the issues raised by Dr Mahathir, but the former prime minister continues to speak out against him.

- TMI