The Finance Ministry has one more major scandal to be unveiled before the nation can fully focus on restoring its fiscal state.
Its minister, Lim Guan Eng, speaking to Channel News Asia, said he hoped to expose the latest scandal "related to the finance ministry" within the next hundred days.
"We hope to uncover all this within a hundred days. So after that, we can move on.
"And I think that’s where the cleaning up begins [...] once the stocktaking is done, the cleaning up is done, the detoxification is completed, Malaysia can get back on track again," he was quoted saying.
The report, however, did not state whether this latest scandal was related to the 1MDB fund founded by ousted prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
Since assuming the role of finance minister on May 21, Lim has made several exposes in regards to the fund including that it received RM7 billion in bailouts from the previous BN government.
He also exposed several other contentious payments made to companies and subsidiaries linked to 1MDB.
On this, Lim said the Pakatan Harapan government would leave it to the investigation panel and courts to decide if Najib was responsible.
He said this was because Najib was both the prime minister and finance minister overseeing the state fund and the billions of dollars of debts faced by the insolvent company.
Due process
Saying that the "nexus is clear", Lim said: "I would personally think that he is fully responsible, only the finance minister can authorise these transactions.
"Of course, this is a matter for the investigative panel to decide and if they think that charges are necessary, then it is for the courts to decide," Lim was quoted as saying.
"So much as I feel that the buck stops at the former finance minister’s desk, we will let investigation and due process take its course."
After he was ousted at the May 9 polls, Najib has been probed by the police and the MACC over alleged misappropriated funds involving 1MDB.
During his tenure as the country's sixth premier, Najib had been cleared of any wrongdoing in this regard by former attorney-general Apandi Ali.
Najib also claimed that there was no wrongdoing as far as the embattled company was concerned.
Lim also said that the probe on Najib was not clouded by "personal vendetta".
If it were, Lim pointed out that Najib would have been arrested by now, adding a month had passed and Najib was still free although there were various laws that could be used to detain him over his involvement in the globally known scandal.
"This is because we want to follow due process, we want to follow rule of law. And if there's any evidence that he should be charged, he will go to court," he said. -Mkini
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