SHAH ALAM – Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali has been challenged to make a statutory declaration on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s innocence in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) affair.
Dr Mahathir Mohamad said this when remarking on Apandi’s statement that Najib had committed no criminal wrongdoing in the cases related to RM2.6 billion in funds and the 1MDB subsidiary SRC International.
“I challenge Apandi to swear,” the chairman of PPBM and Pakatan Harapan said at the Nothing to Hide 2.0 forum, organised by PPBM Youth at Dewan Raja Muda Musa here.
The 92-year-old former prime minister said it was difficult to believe the assertions made by Apandi in the 1MDB issue.
In January last year, Apandi had cleared Najib of any offences pertaining to the RM2.6 billion donation from a Saudi royal family and the RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd deposited into his personal accounts.
It was reported on Thursday that the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had put on hold civil forfeiture lawsuits against Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, after the agency escalated its probe into a criminal investigation of money, allegedly embezzled from 1MDB, being used to buy more than US$1 billion (RM4.3 billion) in real estate and other assets.
DoJ officials were reported as saying that pursuing the agency’s current forfeiture lawsuits might have “an adverse effect” on its ability to conduct the criminal investigation.
Its investigations involved efforts to track how much of the money that was raised by 1MDB for development projects was used to pay for various assets, including luxury real estate, art, film productions, a luxury yacht, private jet and more.
An earlier “Nothing2Hide” forum was held in June 2015 where Najib had initially agreed to make an appearance but did not turn up after police advised him against it, citing security concerns.
Mahathir, who came to the forum unannounced, went on the stage to address the audience of about 2,000 people. He spoke for only six minutes before he was escorted off the stage by police.
Pakatan Harapan leaders present today at the forum included Khalid Abdul Samad, Daroyah Alwi, Mukhriz Mahathir, Muhyiddin Yassin, Zuraida Kamaruddin, Ng Sue Lim, Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang and Zaid Ibrahim.
Najib, who was invited to attend and debate with Mahathir on allegations made against both leaders, did not show up at the event which began at 3.30pm.
FMT has contacted Apandi and is awaiting his response.
– http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com
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