On 1MDB, is Najib innocent, gullible or incompetent?

If Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is truly not responsible or culpable in the fiscal disaster that befell sovereign fund 1MDB as his loyalists argued, then the only available answer why he okayed all the investments that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found dubious, is that he is possibly incompetent or gullible.

I am not saying that Najib is stupid or an idiot, far from it. I am sure he is as intellectually proficient as he is wise to have gotten where he is now, and to have amassed all that he has amassed, achievements and all, after 40 years in politics.

But I am talking about his ability to judge and gauge if those investments were bad, not only for 1MDB but for the government that had to bear guarantee on their debts, as well as the rakyat which will foot the final bill.

He may not have the common sense on how to look after the interests of the common man that he was elected to uphold and defend.

As politically suave and conversationally brilliant as our PM must certainly be, he may have lacked the financial finesse for him to approve the questionable loans and investments without vested interest or ulterior motive.

Unless there are vested interests or ulterior motives influencing his decision, which his supporters argue he does not have.

In any case 1MDB president and executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy himself had indirectly hinted to existing weakness in the company prior to his recruitment to shore up the company's public relations and fiscal integrity, weaknesses that he said were business problems which have been politicised.

While he did not specifically mention problems with the company, the fact that he said the company can serve as an object lesson for other GLCs, points to existing issues that are less than desirable.

As reported by national news agency Bernama, Arul Kanda said that lessons from 1MDB's experience that all businesses must take to heart, is to be more transparent in their reporting, and to reduce excessive debt as well as high risk in the management of the company.

The same fact was also noted by the PAC in its report, which pointed to numerous transactional and management irregularities in the company, though it was pinned directly on company management, specifically on ex-CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

Shahrol however denied any wrongdoing during his tenure, adding that he had cooperated fully with the PAC.

Najib's authorisation required

But the PAC reports also pointed out that Najib's written authorisation is required for all major decisions including loans and investments, which is the root and cause of 1MDB's ills.

While all those are executed by company management, it can only be done with Najib's authorisation and hence full knowledge. Unless he has the habit of signing authorisation letters without reading them or knowing what is in them.

Najib does not have to be an accountant to be the finance minister, or to advise 1MDB, but he has to have enough knowledge to be aware of what investments he has approved for the company as required by Section 117 of 1MDB's Memorandum and Articles of Association, is good or bad.

As Najib's father Abdul Razak also known as our Bapa Pembangunan once said on the matter, as related in a letter by a nostalgic netizen to the media a while back:

"Indeed, it is the general practice in a democratic country not to appoint a person who is an expert on a particular subject as minister responsible for that subject.

"Permanent officials are the experts to give advice and the minister is to bring the common man's point of view to the administration of the state."

As his father argued, all Najib needed to bring to the table was the common sense of the common man, as he would have been advised on the more complicated aspects by his array of advisors, many of whom are paid by taxpayers monies.

Ministerial responsibility

If he knows well enough to administer his own personal accounts which once had RM2.6 billion in them, as he himself admitted, he should have some financial know-how.

But perhaps there is a reason why it was his brother the CIMB banker, who admittedly, disbursed the millions he gave out to politicians prior to in the last general election.

And maybe there was a reason too perhaps, that his banker brother then said that he wished he had not done so after public outcry over the revelations.

In any case, in light of all that has occurred, Najib shouldn't be celebrating his loyalists' accolade that PAC's 1MDB report has exonerated him.

He should perhaps look to the possibility that he is not fit to be finance minister as he seems to lack the common sense on good financial practices, or has been grossly misled by his advisors.

But the question then would be, is our finance minister that gullible?

If he is not culpable, he can only be either gullible or incompetent.

Indeed, perhaps it is best that Najib should look to his father's own words on the matter of ministerial responsibility.

"There is a principle of the ministerial responsibility or the rule of anonymity in the civil service, the minister is responsible to Parliament for the act of the civil servants under him, and he cannot free himself of the blame of his officials. This principle is necessary if the system of parliamentary democracy is to work smoothly."

Innocent, gullible or incompetent, he was the minister in charge and bore fiduciary responsibility for the actions of 1MDB management.

Najib should listen to what his father wisely said on the matter, and take full ministerial responsibility.

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HAZLAN ZAKARIA is a member of the Malaysiakini Team. -Mkini