Justo arrested but 1MDB money still missing, says Dr Mahathir

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says 1MDB is still unable to account for the disappearance of a vast sum of money. – The Malaysian Insider pic, June 29, 2015.

Xavier Andre Justo's arrest for alleged blackmail does not change the fact that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) entered into a lopsided deal and overpaid for its energy assets, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wrote today, asking again where the money had gone.

"Even if Justo tampered with the emails, it doesn't alter the fact that 1MDB forked out US$1.9 billion for the joint venture with PetroSaudi, which within 6 months became so worthless that it was aborted," Dr Mahathir write on his blog today.

He also ridiculed those who were now demanding an apology for the criticism of 1MDB following Justo's arrest.

Putrajaya now says that Justo's tampering of PetroSaudi emails led to 1MDB being implicated.

"Now they say critics of the prime minister must apologise. Apologise for what? The fact remains that vast amount of money has disappeared," he said.

"Can Justo bring all the money back?"

Dr Mahathir also questioned if Justo was being bribed, citing that PetroSaudi gave him RM15 million in dismissing him.

"That is a handsome amount to pay an employee or director after he had done something wrong. Normally, he would just be kicked out. But we are told he is not happy with this amount and demanded for more or else he would leak documents," he said.

He also questioned the proof that Justo had tampered with the documents.

Dr Mahathir said the government has yet to detail where the US$1.9 billion is now, whether it is in Cayman Islands or Singapore.

"Surely Najib knows. Yet, the money has not returned," he said.

"So, what has all this to do with Justo blackmailing PetroSaudi... nothing," he added.

- TMI