Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants an independent commission to investigate 1MDB's affairs and the government's lack of oversight over the debt-ridden fund's operations. – The Malaysian Insider pic, May 19, 2015.Dissatisfied with Datuk Seri Najib Razak's lack of answers on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the time had come for an independent commission to probe the debt-ridden government-owned fund.
He said the members of this commission should not be chosen by the government so that it could "scrutinise every act of 1MDB".
"This is because it is basically going to investigate not just 1MDB but also the government, which has clearly failed to oversee the affairs of 1MDB," Dr Mahathir said in his latest blog post this evening.
Dr Mahathir said he was skeptical of the Auditor-General's probe into the troubled state investor.
“The Auditor-General can audit but it is not going to reveal much. The better thing to do is to set up a commission, the members of which should not be chosen by the government," he wrote.
The Auditor-General's probe was ordered by Najib, the prime minister and also finance minister, in early March. Najib is also chairman of 1MDB's advisory board.
Dr Mahathir’s latest comments comes two days after Najib sought to pacify critics of 1MDB by imploring them to wait for the A-G’s investigation.
Asking people not to ask any questions is silly. It is like seeing someone robbing and the public must wait until the court hearing is over before talking about it. – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Najib had also put up answers to 13 allegations hurled at him, including on 1MDB, on his website NajibRazak.com, in which he urged people not to speculate or form conclusions before the national auditor's report on 1MDB's finances.
Dr Mahathir today said that Najib had basically "rebutted nothing".
"Wait. Wait until the Auditor-General reports. That can take years.
"Examining the accounts will reveal nothing. It will not explain the involvement of Jho Low. It will not explain how Riza Aziz has so much money at a time when 1MDB money disappeared.
"It will not explain the funny transactions with Petro-Saudi, the banks in Seychelles, Hong Kong and Cayman Islands. Then the money from Cayman was brought back and deposited in Singapore. Now the bank says no money has been deposited with it," the former prime minister said.
"Asking people not to ask any questions until the Auditor-General reports is silly. It is like seeing someone robbing and the public must wait until the court hearing is over before talking about it," he added.
Dr Mahathir also said the same about Najib's answers to the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.
"Najib rebuts nothing. Apparently they acted upon orders. Hanging them would be a travesty of justice," he wrote, referring to the two former police commandos, Azilah Hadri and Sirul Azhar Umar.
Sirul, who is in detention in Australia where he fled to escape the gallows, had claimed that Altantuya's murder was carried out upon orders given to the two ex-policemen.
This marks the latest of Dr Mahathir's numerous blog posts against Najib, whom he has also begun to criticise in public speeches and press conferences.
The former prime minister has openly called for Najib to resign, and told ruling party Umno, which Najib leads, to remove him or risk losing the next general election.
- TMI
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