MASSIVE COVERUP FOR ‘MR & MRS MO1’ LAUNCHED: IN DIRECT CONFLICT OF INTEREST, MACC ADVISOR TUNKU AZIZ OPENLY CALLS DOJ PROBE A PLOT TO OVERTHROW UMNO GOVT

THE latest civil suit filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over money allegedly siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) smacks of a conspiracy to overthrow the government, said anti-graft activist Abdul Aziz Ibrahim.

The MACC advisor was quoted by Mingguan Malaysia today as saying Malaysia can conduct its own investigations without foreign help.

“Let us not allow a foreign country overthrow the government of this nation and our prime minister who has been democratically elected. These are all actions without honour and without our patriotic spirit.

“We don’t need a foreign power to interfere in our domestic affairs as we have our own investigators who are credible,” Aziz said.

 The former vice-chairman of the board of directors of Transparency International-Malaysia did not discount the possibility that the actions by the DoJ are part of a conspiracy by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to overthrow Prime Minister Najib Razak.

He said this is because the Attorney General has repeatedly said that domestic investigations have shown Najib to be innocent of any money laundering or illicit activities.

“1MDB is no longer an issue. If we want to blame its management for being incompetent or inefficient, we can accept that. But to accuse the prime minister of stealing money is unacceptable,” said Aziz.

DoJ filed a suit on June 7 to seize assets amounting to US$540 million (RM2.3 billion), which it said were acquired with funds from 1MDB. This brought the total amount allegedly misappropriated from the state fund to US$4.5 billion.

The US government had also moved to seize a London penthouse it alleges was bought with funds from 1MDB last week.

In its filing, the DoJ named businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, who is alleged to have used £77 million (RM416 million) from 1MDB to finance the purchase of the penthouse, office building and another flat on Stratton Street.

“The 1MDB issue involves a national company. The DoJ should have carried out their investigations with the cooperation of our authorities instead of acting alone,” Tunku Aziz told Utusan Malaysia.

“This means the DoJ did not adhere to the proper laws when they freely made allegations without proper investigation and strong evidence. Our society cannot believe anything that comes out of the DoJ,” he said.

Tunku Aziz was former vice-chairman of the DAP and once represented the opposition component as a Senator in Dewan Negara. He resigned from the party in 2012 after publicly opposing the Bersih 3 rally.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT