Attorney-General must explain, says DAP

Party backs Rulers' call for action, says danger of losing public confidence.

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP today announced support for the call by the Rulers’ Conference for the government to complete the investigations into its investment arm 1Malaysia Development Berhad as soon as possible.

The party’s secretary-general, Lim Guan Eng, said the investigation was about serious matters involving billions of ringgit and that was the reason the Rulers had urged that action be taken against those found guilty.

“Our stand is not only to echo the call from the Rulers’ Conference but also reflect the concern of the Malaysian public,” he told reporters today.

The Rulers’ Conference in a pre-council statement on Tuesday urged the government to complete the investigations as soon as possible and take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.

In the statement issued by the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal, they called for “real and sincere” cooperation from all concerned for the investigation to achieve its objectives.

Lim said the priority now was to restore the public’s confidence by asking for an explanation of why the Attorney-General’s Chambers refused to begin criminal proceedings against the company as recommended by Bank Negara.

He said there can be no public confidence if there was no accountability; now both institutions were at loggerheads, with Bank Negara saying one thing and the Attorney-General saying another.

Lim said that unless these issues were answered, the statement by the Rulers’ Conference would not be respected and complied with,” he said.

“This failure similarly affect their credibility and this issue must be addressed to restore confidence among investors, especially internationally,” he said.

On Thursday, the Attorney-General’s Chambers said it had studied the central bank’s investigation report into 1MDB and found no wrongdoing by fund officials. It said Bank Negara had requested a review of its decision last week, but the request was rejected as no new evidence was provided.

In response, the central bank said on Friday that it had recommended criminal proceedings on the basis of false or incomplete information provided for an investment amounting to US1.83 billion.

The bank announced that it had revoked three permissions granted to 1MDB and ordered that the funds used for the investment to be repatriated. 1MDB has since said it could not comply as the money had been used up.

— BERNAMA