BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan has said that there is no secret who is Malaysian Official 1 (MO1) mentioned in the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) civil lawsuits.
Everyone who has read the court documents or knows about the issues would know who is the person being referred to, he said.
He was asked to comment about the identity of MO1 as some alleged that the MO1, which mentioned 36 times in DOJ’s court documents, was in fact Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
“There is no mystery about Malaysian Official 1, only an idiot doesn’t know who that person was,” he said at a press conference, adding those who are familiar with the issues and read the court documents would know who is MO1.
“The most important question is why they put Malaysian official 1 (in the court papers instead of directly naming one)?
“Malaysiakini didn’t ask, they only asked who is MO1. Why is that they didn’t name him but name MO1...?
“The reason why the person wasn’t named (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) is because he is not involved or part of the investigation,” he explained.
DOJ only used this as a reference to a person as naming him would not be fair to him, he said.
“This is actually an indication that Najib is not among the people being investigated,” he stressed.
“They used the nickname because Najib is not part of the investigation and this is a good thing,” he added.
Rahman, who is also an Umno supreme council member, has officially opened the Kepong Umno division’s annual general assembly.
US federal prosecutors filed the civil lawsuits seeking to seize assets worth more than US$1 billion, allegedly stolen from 1MDB.
The DOJ named Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, the founder of Red Granite Pictures; Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low; Abu Dhabi government officials Khadem Abdulla Al-Qubaisi and Mohammed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny.
Both Al Qubaisi and Al-Husseiny are former officials at a sovereign fund in Abu Dhabi that participated in deals with 1MDB.
The DOJ court papers stated that ‘Malaysian Official 1' received US$731 million in kickbacks, allegedly from 1MDB funds.
Najib has denied abusing public funds for personal gain, and blamed such allegations on those conspiring to topple him.
Attorney-general Mohamad Apandi Ali had also cleared the prime minister of any wrongdoing.
‘Mahathir no longer an issue in Umno’
Meanwhile, Rahman also declined to respond to Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had uttered the word ‘keling’, which referred to Indians.
“Are we seriously thinking about Mahathir ? I think we have come to a stage that I see he is no longer an issue in Umno,” he asked.
“If we want to talk about history, of course he played an important role. But, we are a party that looks forward.
“The future is a party like us, we want to look forward. Mahathir belong to the past of Umno,” he added.
“I don’t think he deserves much of our attention especially now that he decided to be a part of the opposition... I have no feeling for Dr Mahathir. Unfortunately, that’s a sad story,” he said.
In a video clip being circulated on social media, Mahathir was heard stating the word ‘keling’ during a ‘Save Malaysia’ event in Langkawi which took place in May. - Mkini
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