IN THE NAME OF GOD, NAJIB LIES WITHOUT BLINKING AN EYE: TAKING NAIVE PILGRIMS FOR FOOLS, MO1 DARES TO SAY 1MDB’S RM42BIL DEBT DIDN’T VANISH ‘LIKE DR M’S FOREX LOSSES’ – BUT HOW CAN LOANS DISAPPEAR? WILL NAJIB PROMISE TO SELL OFF JHO LOW’S YACHT, ROSMAH’S DIAMONDS, RIZA’S PROPERTIES TO REPAY 1MDB’S DEBT?

PRIME Minister Najib Razak today defended the 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) RM42 billion debt, saying the money never disappeared, unlike the RM31 billion losses incurred in Bank Negara’s foreign exchange scandal.

Addressing 1,200 imams, kampung heads, tahfiz teachers and community leaders who received offer letters to perform the haj, Najib said the country suffered greater financial losses in the forex scandal, an apparent swipe against Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Bank Negara forex losses occurred during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure as prime minister in the 1990s. Dr Mahathir is now chairman of the opposition pact, Pakatan Harapan, and a fierce Najib critic.

“We can’t criticise 1MDB until we can’t see its fair share of good.   

“Don’t slander or say that RM42 billion have disappeared… it was debts that we could settle with assets that are more than the debts,” he said at a ceremony to hand over the offer letters to the recipients at the Putra Mosque in Putrajaya.

This is the eighth year of the prime minister’s special haj programme, which was first introduced in 2011. The 1MDB foundation is also one of its sponsors.

Najib admitted on January 23 that there were lapses in the 1MDB management but to date, no one has been charged with any crime in the sovereign fund’s mismanagement.

About 1,200 imams, kampung heads, tahfiz teachers and community leaders received offer letters to perform the haj this year where sovereign fund 1MDB’s foundation is one of the programme’s sponsors. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Seth Akmal, February 2, 2018.

“Now, I am not going to brush over this issue. There were indeed failings at the company, there were lapses of governance. There was valid cause for concern,” Najib told investors at Malaysia 2018 in Kuala Lumpur.

“This is why I ordered one of the most comprehensive and detailed investigations in Malaysia’s corporate history, one that involved multiple lawful authorities, including a bipartisan parliamentary body. Their findings were taken on board – and the company’s board was dissolved, its management team changed, and its operations reviewed.”

But the prime minister, who started 1MDB and was chairman of its advisory board for a period, also said that 1MDB was targeted to boost claims that Malaysia’s economy was suffering.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT