Question leaders on 1MDB, Khairuddin tells Umno delegates

PETALING JAYA: A 1MDB critic has urged Umno delegates at the on-going party general assembly to seek clarification from their leaders on investigations in other countries against the state investor.

Khairuddin Abu Hassan said the annual meeting was important as it brought together party grassroots leaders and those elected to manage the biggest Malay party.

“Delegates must have the courage to question leaders whom they elected if Umno is to survive. Loyalty should be to the party and not any individual,” he told FMT.

He said the image of Umno, nation and people was at its lowest point as party president and Prime Minister Najib Razak had remained passive in the face of reports emerging on the 1MDB controversy.

“Instead of attacking opposition leaders and Pakatan Harapan, Najib should attempt to answer all allegations,” said Khairuddin, who had made three reports to the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission over 1MDB since 2014.

Khairuddin, who was sacked as Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chairman in 2015, said delegates should also ask why Dr Mahathir Mohamad left the party and was now leading the opposition to unseat Najib.

“The present Umno is not the party that champions the welfare of the nation and people but that of Najib only,” he said.

Khairuddin, who is currently the coordinator of Deklarasi Rakyat, said he was jailed and his bank accounts frozen three years ago for raising the 1MDB issue locally and outside Malaysia.

“As Muslims, we must uphold the teachings in the Al-Quran and follow the example of Prophet Mohammad,” he said.

Khairuddin said this in response to US chief legal adviser Jeff Sessions’ statement on Monday that the 1MDB issue was “kleptocracy at its worst”.

The US chief legal adviser, speaking at a global forum on asset recovery in Washington on Monday, said the US Department of Justice (DoJ) was working to provide justice to the victims.

1MDB was created by the Malaysian government to promote long-term economic development for the benefit of the Malaysian people.

Sessions said the 1MDB-linked assets accounted for nearly half of some US$3.5 billion in total proceeds seized or restrained by the DoJ, tied to money-laundering offences.

He said “allegedly corrupt officials” in 1MDB had reportedly spent US$200 million on real estate in Southern California and New York, US$130 million on artwork, invested US$100 million in an American music label and US$265 million on a yacht.

“In total, 1MDB officials allegedly laundered more than US$4.5 billion in funds through a complex web of opaque transactions and fraudulent shell companies, with bank accounts in countries ranging from Switzerland and Singapore to Luxembourg and the United States,” Sessions said.

He did not identify any of the officials he thought were corrupt.

The DoJ has put on hold its asset forfeiture suit to conduct investigations to prosecute suspects allegedly involved in money laundering using the US financial system.

Najib, who until last year was the chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, has denied any wrongdoing in Malaysia and has been cleared by Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali. -FMT