What 1MDB issue? There’s no issue here, say Umno members

PETALING JAYA: Just days ago, the US attorney-general called 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst”, but at the 2017 Umno general assembly, members are adamant that no crime has been committed.

According to The Strait Times, many claim there is no evidence against party president Najib Razak, or that any wrongdoing involving the state fund was committed on foreign soil.

Still others say the reports against 1MDB are part of efforts to undermine Umno, which is part of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

A Puteri Umno member from Terengganu, Zainab Jaafar, told the Singapore daily that although corruption was normal in other countries, it was a very serious issue in Malaysia.

“So I’m confident it’s not happening here. Whatever news on 1MDB… you should take it with a pinch of salt,” she said.

Negeri Sembilan divisional youth permanent chairman Mohd Haidil Mohamad meanwhile said there was no solid evidence that Najib was involved.

“If there is concrete evidence, we will not defend anyone who is involved, even if it is the prime minister.

“But so long as there is no conclusive proof, we cannot accuse anyone,” he was quoted as saying.

Even if wrongdoing had been committed, others said, “we shouldn’t jump the gun”.

“Don’t turn a blind eye to all the good things that (Najib’s) done just because of one mistake,” Perlis delegate Azimah Mahmud said in the report.

On Dec 4, US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said nearly half of the US$3.5 billion corruption proceeds seized by the US was related to the 1MDB enforcement action.

He also hit out at 1MDB, calling it “kleptocracy at its worst”.

Sessions said 1MDB officials had 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”.

“Today, the US DoJ is working to provide justice to the victims of this alleged scheme,” he added.

The DoJ charged that from 2009 through 2015, more than US$4.5 billion (RM19 billion) belonging to 1MDB had been diverted by high-level officials of the fund and their associates.

In court filings in California on June 5 this year, the DoJ sought to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets, including art works, jewellery, a luxury yacht and film rights purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.

The action followed the DoJ’s civil forfeiture suit in June 2016 which sought to recover all the assets, including, but not limited to, the Park Lane Hotel in New York, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, condominiums in New York, a private jet and expensive works of art, as well as finances related to Martin Scorsese’s movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

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

Both Najib and Apandi have slammed the US forfeiture actions, suggesting that they are politically motivated. -FMT