NAZIR SHOCKER: 'PEOPLE THINK THEY CAN DO ANYTHING & GET AWAY WITH IT', NAJIB'S OWN BROTHER SLAMS HIM

PETALING JAYA - Those responsible for what happened in 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) should be held accountable, said a leading banker.

“The future is about making sure that 1MDB never happens again,” said

CIMB group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Tun Razak.

“We have to look at the past and understand what happened so that we learn the lesson, so that people responsible for it are held accountable, so that nobody dares to do it again and that is a process that is still at work.

“In terms of the magnitude of the wrong, what went wrong and who did wrong – that’s the job of the Auditor-General, the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) and that is still work in progress.

“It’s important that we learn lessons from the past so that there isn’t this moral hazard that people think they can do anything and get away with this because that would be very damaging to the country,” he told the audience during a question and answer session at the third Star Power Talks: Business Series at Menara Star here yesterday.

'MORAL HAZARD'

Something went wrong in 1MDB, added Nazir, and no one could deny it.

In 2009, based on public information, he had already spoken up and related the case to various people that “needed to know” that something was not right with 1MDB.

The youngest brother of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the government-owned company’s total debt was way out of range of its capital base.

“The transactions of the RM5bil bond it issued in 2009 was also not properly priced and was handled in a very unusual manner.

“It also lacks transparency in its deals.

“There’s also a concern because the auditors kept changing and its accounts continue to be delayed,” he said, adding that there was an issue in terms of governance as the accounts were only until March 2014.

- ANN