Kadir: Najib under pressure on missing sums, RM2.6b

The Sosma arrests show that when someone lodges a report on a wrongdoing, all laws will be used to cover up that wrongdoing.

KUALA LUMPUR: A former veteran newsman took to his blog to point out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak faces mounting calls to explain massive sums of money allegedly missing from the Ministry of Finance-owned 1MDB, touted as a strategic investment and development arm, as well as an expose that nearly USD700 million in mysterious transfers had been made to his personal banking accounts.

For one, he said, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad linked hands with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a one-time rival, to condemn the use of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) against 1MDB critics, sacked Umno Batu Kawan deputy divisional chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang.

“A joint statement issued by them together on Monday with Umno Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin, Umno Vice- President Shafie Apdal, former Kedah Menteri Besar Sanusi Junid and former MCA Chiefs Ong Tee Keat and Ling Liong Sik, said that it was ‘shameful’ that a person accused of wrongdoing was not defending himself, and instead prosecuting others (whistleblowers),” said former New Straits Times Group Editor-in-Chief Kadir Jasin.

He was commenting as well on Khairuddin and Chang being charged on Monday with attempting to “sabotage” the banking sector, after being detained for their efforts to highlight the Prime Minister’s alleged corruption.

Resuming his take on the joint statement, he noted that Ling was not present during the press conference by the Barisan Nasional (BN) “big guns”.

“To the sound mind, the Sosma arrests show that when someone lodges a report on a wrongdoing, all laws will be used to cover up that wrongdoing,” Kadir quoted the big guns as saying. “They added that ‘isn’t it shameful when someone who is accused of a crime does not do anything to prove his innocence, but instead the person lodging the report on the wrongdoing is arrested’.”