Najib should be first to take lie-detector test, says Kit Siang

Citing a proverb which states that “a fish rots from the head down”, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should be the first to be strapped to a polygraph device.

He suggested that a panel comprising independent and eminent Malaysians monitor the process of the prime minister taking the lie-detector test to answer questions on 1MDB and his personal bank account.

“Is Najib prepared to take a polygraph test by an independent and eminent panel of Malaysians, specifically on Malaysia's shooting to infamy as a global kleptocracy under his premiership, the 1MDB and his private banking account scandals?” he asked in a media statement.

Lim was commenting on chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa's statement that the government is studying the possibility of using the polygraph test as a mechanism to help curb cases of corruption among civil servants.

“This is a good idea, especially as it was recently reported in a mainstream media that an entire division of a government agency, which collects revenue for the country, had failed a polygraph test showing that most of the senior officers had been stealing money and abused their position for gratification – one reason why the polygraph test for civil servants was discontinued,” added the DAP leader.

Lim said Malaysia cannot continue to pretend that the 1MDB scandal and issues surrounding the RM2.6 billion in the prime minister's account do not exist.

He said this is because the issues are the subject of multiple investigations in some 10 foreign countries and jurisdictions, with criminal and punitive action already taken against former bankers and financial institutions.

Lim claimed while Malaysia's key institutions “pretend” that nothing is amiss, “the ghosts of 1MDB and Najib’s astronomical donations in his personal bank accounts would not just go away".

He also pointed to the latest allegation by Sarawak Report that a prominent lawyer received RM9.5 million from Najib's accounts into which funds from the state-owned SRC International were transferred.

SRC International is a former 1MDB subsidiary.

Following the Sarawak Report allegation, PKR Youth announced that it would embark on a nationwide campaign to lodge police reports.

The Youth wing claimed that the allegation confirmed the existence of a political conspiracy in a high-profile case, which the lawyer was involved in.

Malaysiakini is withholding the name of the lawyer pending his comments.

Najib has denied abusing public funds for personal gain, and blamed such allegations on those conspiring to topple him.

Pro-government supporters have also accused Sarawak Report and its London-based editor Claire Rewcastle-Brown of being a part of this campaign.

Attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali has cleared Najib of any wrongdoing, and confirmed that the RM2.6 billion in the prime minister's accounts was indeed a donation from a Saudi royalty.- Mkini