1MDB winter far from over, says Pua

Despite Prime Minister Najib Razak's assurances that the worst is behind debt-laden government investment fund 1MDB, a top DAP leader insists that ‘winter’ is far from over.

"I beg to disagree with the Prime Minister’s New Year Message claiming that this fulfilled his promise made in June," the party's national publicity chief Tony Pua said in a statement last night.

He argued that 1MDB survived only because it was "bailed out" using government assets.

Pua posited that 1MDB remains “alive” today not because of its own business acumen and realised profits, but through the fire sale of national assets which it got for cheap and then sold off at a higher price.

He pointed that this was especially true of the latest transaction where 1MDB sold a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia to a consortium of companies partly led by China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) for RM7.41 billion.

While admitting that it was "unquestionably profitable" and may reduce some of 1MDB’s remaining RM32 billion of debt after the earlier Edra Global disposal, Pua noted that the sale is funded by the taxpayers as the government gave away the prime piece of property to 1MDB at the bargain basement price of RM1.6 billion in 2012.

He accused Najib and 1MDB of trying to pull wool over the rakyat's eyes through the so-called rationalisation of 1MDB debt which he labelled as "an outright lie".

"Clearly, Najib and the 1MDB executives are hoping to fool Malaysians into thinking that the monstrous 1MDB scandal has been fully resolved and the dusts are meticulously swept under the carpet."

The facts though speak otherwise, claims Pua.

"1MDB remains deeply in debt to the tune of RM20 billion despite the multi-billion-ringgit indirect bailout by the federal government. Malaysians will enter the New Year knowing that come June next year (2016), we will likely be rocked with another multi-billion-ringgit bailout which Malaysian taxpayers can ill-afford."

Worse, he pointed out that this latest “bailout” was proof of mismanagement and grave wrongdoings in the wholly-owned Finance Ministry subsidiary, which remain unaddressed until today.

Pua claimed that 1MDB has failed to absolve itself over the loss of billions in a slew of questionable business dealings, and after having borrowed billions of ringgit, got almost nothing to show for it.

"Unlike some people, the majority of Malaysians will certainly not easily forgive and forget such outrageous shenanigans by the BN government.

“My 2016 resolutions will be to ensure that all those responsible for the tens of billions of ringgit loses are exposed for their misdeeds," vowed Pua. -Mkini