‘Missing’ SRC duo should not run away if they have nothing to hide, says veteran journalist

The fact that SRC International Sdn Bhd managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and director Datuk Suboh Md Yasin have absconded the country suggests that they have something to hide, says veteran newsman Datuk A.Kadir Jasin. – MACC pic, October 30, 2015.The fact that SRC International Sdn Bhd managing director Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil and director Datuk Suboh Md Yasin have absconded the country suggests that they have something to hide, veteran newsman Datuk A.Kadir Jasin said.

Writing in his blog, he said that the duo should not run away if they have not done anything wrong, given that they are wanted for questioning by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over the RM42 million channeled into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's personal bank accounts.

"If they have nothing to hide and are free to act on their own, they should clear their names and the good name of their families by presenting themselves to the MACC.

 "But the very fact that they absconded from the country suggests that they have something to hide," Kadir wrote.

The former editor in chief of the New Straits Times Group said there were many other questions begging answers, such as whether it was true that Najib and the two missing persons were on the verge of being charge for allegedly misappropriating RM42 million belonging to SRC International when then Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, was abruptly relieved of his job on July 27.

He also wondered if Nik Faisal and Suboh left the country of their own free will or were told to leave the country when the news of their impending arrest by the MACC leaked out.

"Is it true that Nik Faisal and Suboh are hiding in Indonesia under the protection and patronage of some very influential people there?

"Is it true that the two fugitives are willing to meet the MACC investigators in a foreign country (not Indonesia) but “were stopped” by their “handlers” in Malaysia?" Kadir questioned.

He added that it was widely believed that Nik Faisal and Suboh, who have gone missing since July, were under some sort of “protective custody” in Indonesia to avoid them from talking to the MACC.

Yesterday, DAP lawmaker Tony Pua asked why was there a lack of effort by the authorities to track down two top executives of SRC International to facilitate investigations into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) subsidiary.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, commenting on the same issue, had also said that it was ridiculous for the prime minister, in his written reply in Parliament on October 21, to say that Nik Faisal and Suboh were preparing to be interviewed by MACC.

“What sort of preparation takes more than three months?”  Teo had said yesterday.

Kadir said today that talk about Nik Faisal and Suboh, as well as others such as 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamny and businessman Low Taek Jho, needing time to prepare for the MACC interviews could be a delaying tactic to give the state investment firm enough time to restructure and regularise its books.

"The fact that Nik Faisal and Suboh are wanted in connection with SRC International and absconded strengthens the assumption that it was the SRC International’s case that Abdul Gani was bringing to court when he was unceremoniously booted out." Kadir added.

- TMI