Najib should not chair Cabinet meeting on 1MDB, says Kit Siang

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should avoid any conflict of interest pertaining to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 2, 2015.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak should not chair or attend any Cabinet meetings on troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to avoid any conflict of interest, said DAP's Lim Kit Siang.

His comment today came after his party colleague, Klang MP Charles Santiago, urged the prime minister to go on leave pending the auditor-general's report on the state investment vehicle.

"Najib should not chair or even be present at such a Cabinet discussion on the 1MDB issue because of conflict of interest," he said in a statement today.

Charles had earlier said Najib should stay away until the A-G cleared him and his family of any involvement in the debt-laden company.

"The Cabinet ministers are not under scrutiny here. Najib’s decisions and alleged interests in 1MDB are," he reportedly said.

He added that the Malaysian public had the right to demand that their prime minister practised the highest standards of integrity and transparency in managing the affairs of the state.

It was recently revealed that Najib had the final say over any "financial commitment" in Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), following the revelation of its Memorandum and Articles of Association
(M&A).

TIA was 1MDB's predecessor.

Article 117 of the M&A states that the prime minister must give his written approval for any of TIA's deals, including the firm's investments or any bid for restructuring.

Provision 75 of the same agreement also states that the management of the company and determination of its overall policies lies with the board of directors.

TIA was set up on February 27, 2009, the same date on which the memorandum was signed. According to a Companies Commission of Malaysia statement, its name was changed to 1MDB on September 25 the same year.

Lim (pic, right) today asked if tomorrow's Cabinet meeting would see Najib's ministers providing clear answers to questions surrounding 1MDB, including details of the US$1 billion injection from Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) for 1MDB to settle its US$975 million syndicated loan to a consortium of foreign banks.

The DAP parliamentary leader also asked if all ministers were prepared to explain to the public details of 1MDB's rationalisation plan presented to the Cabinet by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah last Friday.

"Nobody thinks so, for the ministers must be equally at sea as the Malaysian public on the many questions and controversies that have cropped up just in the past three days on the 1MDB roadmap," he said.

The Gelang Patah MP also listed several questions for the ministers to answer:

– Can the ministers explain to the public what 1MDB has to give in return for Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC)’s US$1 billion so that 1MDB can settle its US$975 million syndicated loan?

– Since 1MDB president and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy has denied that IPIC’s US$1 billion mentioned by Husni was “a loan, debt or bailout”, does any minister know what this US$1 billion of IPIC is, which is not “a loan, debt or bailout”?

– Do the ministers know whether 1MDB is being wound down by next year and its operations transferred to three separate companies as part of the deal with IPIC and its Aabar Investments unit to remove another RM16 billion debt from 1MDB, as reported by Bernama but subsequently denied by Husni?

– Have the ministers got answers to the most basic question: why is IPIC’s US$1 billion necessary in the first place?

– Has the Cabinet received a full report as to whether there is any basis in the allegation of whistleblower site Sarawak Report that BSI Singapore had informed the Singapore authorities that the documents related to 1MDB’s account in BSI were in fact “false bank statements” and “did not represent a true account of the assets of the 1MDB subsidiary”?

– Most important of all, had the prime minister at Friday’s Cabinet meeting explained his role not only on 1MDB’s US$975 million loan being rescinded by the consortium of international bankers ahead of the August due date, but all the important 1MDB decisions by virtue of his being the final approving authority for any 1MDB deal, transaction or investment under the 1MDB M&A?

- TMI