'Najib, why not heed Kit Siang's call for 1MDB, Felda RCI too?'

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has questioned why Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak only heeded party supremo Lim Kit Siang's call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the 1990s Bank Negara forex scandal.

Answering on behalf of his father, Guan Eng asked why Najib has not responded to similar calls for an RCI on more current scandals such as 1MDB and Felda.

"Kit Siang made the suggestion in the 1990s, that was more than 20 years ago.

"Why did Najib call for an RCI for a financial scandal that happened in the 1990s, but not for a scandal that is happening now? Why is there no RCI for 1MDB and for Felda?" Guan Eng said at a press conference today.

A video of his presser was uploaded by Penang state media Buletin Mutiara.

Najib in his New Year's message yesterday, said the forex RCI was held in response to calls made by politicians including Kit Siang.

"Some politicians such as Kit Siang had long called for an RCI into the forex losses between 1992 and 1994. Last year we answered that call by forming an eminent panel to investigate," the prime minister had said.

The opposition had accused Najib of trying to distract from the 1MDB scandal with the forex RCI by shining a spotlight on his predecessor-turned-nemesis Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is now in the opposition.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing in regard to the 1MDB scandal, and was cleared of misconduct by attorney-general Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Felda, on the other hand, is facing multiple scandals involving questionable financial decisions, including most recently, the sale of prime land in Jalan Semarak, Kuala Lumpur to a developer.

Meanwhile, Guan Eng, who is also Penang chief minister, said if Mahathir, his then-deputy Anwar Ibrahim, then-finance minister Daim Zainuddin, and Bank Negara's Nor Mohamed Yakcop were to be held responsible for the forex losses, then so should Najib.

"All cabinet members (at the time) should also be held responsible, we work under Westminster system of parliament where there is collective responsibility," the younger Lim said.

He also said that there should be no attempts to link his criticism on Najib not calling for an RCI on 1MDB or Felda to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

This, he said, was because an RCI must be proposed by the prime minister.

The Forex RCI report tabled in Parliament on Nov 30 claimed that RM31.5 billion was lost due to Bank Negara's "excessive" and "speculative" foreign exchange activity between 1992 and 1994.

The RCI also established that Nor Mohamed, who was part of Bank Negara’s management at the time, was the person in charge of the forex dealing operations.

It further reported that Mahathir and Anwar, had likely abetted Nor Mohamed and hid certain facts from the cabinet, which are grave offences under the Penal Code.- Mkini