Puchong MP denies Najib Razak's claim that opposition is exaggerating the 1MDB issue.
PETALING JAYA: If Prime Minister Najib Razak feels the opposition is blowing the 1MDB issue out of proportion, the only rightful thing for him to do is to come to Parliament to face his critics and answer their questions directly, Gobind Singh of the DAP says.
The Puchong MP said discussing the 1MDB issue in Parliament was not subjudice and the Dewan Rakyat was the best platform to explain matters.
He said there was nothing in the standing orders that excluded opposition MPs from asking questions about the investigation status on 1MDB here in Malaysia and what steps the government had taken in the civil cases filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in the US.
Gobind was responding to Najib’s opening speech at Invest Malaysia 2017 today in which the PM said the opposition was blowing the 1MDB issue out of proportion in its attempt to topple the government.
Former Umno minister Zaid Ibrahim, who is now with DAP, urged the government to stop covering-up the 1MDB issue.
He said the opposition was merely responding to newspaper reports of actions being taken by overseas governments.
“Najib just denies the issue whenever he speaks to the public,” said Zaid.
PKR’s Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen said the 1MDB scandal was an important international issue because it had shaken the entire global banking system’s approach to money laundering.
“The attempts by Barisan Nasional to cover up are extremely detrimental to our economy and our democracy.”
Wong Chen said Malaysia needed to fully investigate and debate on 1MDB since the country’s reputation was at stake.
Several countries have investigated alleged money laundering involving 1MDB.
However, 1MDB has consistently denied any embezzlement of its funds.
The US DoJ has filed civil suits seeking the forfeiture of assets worth US$1.8 billion (RM7.7 billion), which it claims were allegedly bought with funds stolen from 1MDB.
Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali has declared Najib innocent of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB affair.
Meanwhile the Auditor-General’s Report to the Public Accounts Committee has been officially sealed from public scrutiny under the Official Secrets Act.
Apandi said neither Malaysian nor international authorities investigating 1MDB had furnished any evidence of misappropriated funds.
“1MDB … has been the subject of multiple investigations within Malaysia, including by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Auditor-General and bi-partisan Public Accounts Committee.
“After review, we found that no crime was committed,” he said, adding that the police investigation was still ongoing. - FMT
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