`


THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
read:
MALAYSIA Tanah Tumpah Darahku

LOVE MALAYSIA!!!


 


Sunday, July 26, 2015

Rahman: Edge ban allows 1MDB probe to carry on

In online posting, BN communications chief denies that the reason was to suppress the investigation
rahman-edge
KUALA LUMPUR: The Barisan Nasional’s Abdul Rahman Dahlan has denied that the suspension of The Edge weekly and its Financial Daily in order to suppress the investigation into the troubled government investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
“That is far from the truth,” he said in an online posting today. “The investigations into 1MDB have not stopped,” he said, but were “gathering steam and getting busier by the day.”
“They cannot and must not be stopped,” he said.
Abdul Rahman said the suspension of the two newspapers was necessary, to still the onslaught of news, in order to allow the 1MDB investigations to proceed to its conclusion.
“There was a real possibility that the contents of their reporting were not authentic,” he said in a lengthy online posting today. “If this possibility turns to be true then the impact on the government and the economic stability due to irresponsible reporting cannot be understated.”
Last week The Edge Financial Daily, anticipating its suspension, wrapped up its extensive coverage over the years with a front-page expose, outlining a trail of financial transactions which it said showed how the Malaysian taxpayers had been defrauded of US$1.83 billion in cash. It named Penang-born businessman Jho Low, an associate of prime minister Najib Razak’s family, as having colluded with executives of PetroSaudi International, a joint venture partner of 1MDB.
Previously, Sarawak Report and the Wall Street Journal exposed a series of financial transactions by which US$700 million in 1MDB-linked funds were channelled into private banking accounts held in the name of Najib.
Abdul Rahman said the government decided on the temporary suspension of the two newspapers, pending the outcome of the investigation, as the best option. “Allowing them to continue publishing something so serious without absolute certainty on the authenticity of the data used would be wrong,” he said.
As the Barisan Nasional’s director of strategic communications, Abdul Rahman, who is MP for Kota Belud and housing minister, recently became the government’s main spokesman on the 1MDB scandal.
The company, wholly-owned by the finance ministry, is viewed as the government’s investment arm. It is reportedly in debt to the tune of RM42 billion, and a series of dubious financial investments and transactions have been extensively reported by Sarawak Report, The Edge and The Edge Financial Daily.
The reports were said to have been based on a massive cache of confidential company documents and emails obtained from the company’s computer servers by former PetroSaudi executive Xavier Justo.
In his posting today, Abdul Rahman dealt with the question of data theft and said condoning a breach of banking privacy by revealing information about customer accounts would place the banking system in jeopardy.
He said the trustworthiness of media would also come into question if they obtained information illegally on which to write their reports.
The owner and publisher of the Edge Media Group has acknowledged that he had dealt with Justo, who had offered to sell the PetroSaudi information, but denied having paid Justo.
Abdul Rahman said The Edge should have handed over all the stolen documents to the authorities for investigation “instead of milking it for several months” and thereby “creating economic uncertainties and political mayhem”.
He described the extensive reporting by the Edge group as having “an obvious political purpose”. Other government leaders have seized upon a reported statement by Justo of a political conspiracy by a group of 10 people who had wanted the PetroSaudi files for a conspiracy to topple the Malaysian government.
The Edge has denied being part of a political conspiracy or of having tampered with the data, as alleged by an investigator hired by PetroSaudi and by Justo.
Abdul Rahman, taking up this point, said the question of authenticity was loaded with “What Ifs”. Among other questions, he asked: “What if The Edge lied? What if the data was indeed not intact nor authentic? What if the plan to topple the government, as revealed by Justo, was true?”
He said the government “could not simply swallow whatever excuse” from The Edge.
“Why can’t the investigators be given ample time and space to do their work?,” he said. “Don’t we want to get the truth out? Why can’t we trust the official investigation to do their work but believe everything The Edge said.”

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.