MACC can probe how much I stole from government, says Dr M

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is challenging the MACC advisory board chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim to prove claims the latter made in a column in a local daily recently that the former prime minister had misappropriated federal funds while in office. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 6, 2015.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today told his latest critic, Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim, to use his role as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) advisory board chairman to determine if he had misappropriated federal funds during his 22 years as prime minister.

Continuing his response to Tunku Abdul Aziz's recent column in the New Straits Times, in which he criticised the financial scandals that took place during Dr Mahathir's tenure, the former prime minister wrote in a blog posting that Tunku Abdul Aziz  should apologise if no evidence is found against him.

"As a member of the MACC, he can make a full investigation of my record to find out how many billions I stole from the government as he seems to imply. If he fails, he should at least have the decency to apologise," he wrote in his blog chedet.cc.

He also questioned if Tunku Abdul Aziz's attempt to "accuse" him of being involved in the BMF scandal on a "flimsy ground" was ethical.

Earlier today, Dr Mahathir rejected Tunku Abdul Aziz's attempts to compare the current 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy with the Bank Bumiputra scandal in the 1980s, when Dr Mahathir was prime minister.

Nearly US$1 billion (which was equivalent to RM2.4 billion at the time) was lent by Bank Bumiputra to two investment companies via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Bumiputera Malaysia Finance Limited (BMF), with one of the companies going bankrupt.

Mahathir said that he did not "steal" money and that he held no capacity in the bank or its management and its decision-making process.

He also took jibes at Tunku Abdul Aziz, asking the latter if he had "selective awareness on what's going on around him".

"As someone who professes to be concerned about corruption, shouldn't he ask how Jho Low and Riza Aziz have hundreds of millions of dollars?" Dr Mahathir wrote, referring to the controversial businessman and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's stepson, respectively.

"Shouldn't he be interested in public servants who are living well beyond their means?" he asked.

Dr Mahathir has emerged as Najib's strongest critic in recent months, singling out 1MDB for the large debts accummulated by Najib's branchild investment arm in the six years since its inception, and even bringing up the case of the murdered Mongolian model, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

- TMI