Come clean over RM11.5bil borrowings, watchdog tells Putrajaya

 

Cynthia Gabriel says the government must account for RM11.5 billion it recently borrowed, as shown on Bank Negara Malaysia’s website.

PETALING JAYA: An anti-corruption watchdog has questioned why the government borrowed RM11.5 billion in a span of 10 days, and demanded that the Perikatan Nasional government be transparent over the loans.

The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) said the government needs to account for the money.

“PN must account for what is on Bank Negara Malaysia’s website,” its executive director, Cynthia Gabriel, told FMT.

On Monday, former prime minister Najib Razak had questioned the government over the billions in borrowings in 10 days.

In a Facebook post, Najib included screenshots of details from the BNM website showing billions of ringgit in bonds issued by the government with the central bank as the facility agent.

The three transactions were labelled as Malaysian Islamic Treasury Bills, Malaysian Government Securities and Government Investment Issues.

The government borrowed RM5.5 billion on July 27, followed by RM4 billion on Aug 3 and RM2 billion on Aug 9.

Gabriel also expressed concern over money politics as the present political turmoil intensified.

She said there should be no room for unscrupulous and corrupt practices among politicians and political parties.

She urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to take strict action against any politician found engaging in underhanded means or the buying over of MPs.

“A time of turmoil like this provides opportunities for deals to be made, be it a trading of favours or funds, including plush political appointments to government-linked companies (GLCs) and statutory bodies,” she said.

She questioned why the probe into Kuala Langat MP Xavier Jayakumar “suddenly vanished” after he resigned from PKR and backed the ruling coalition, as well as developments over claims by Sabah elected representatives that they were offered millions of ringgit to switch sides.

“The rise in corruption, dirty money and wanton abuses of power done in the frenzy of horse-trading must be checked and stopped.

“We urge the rakyat to be the eyes and ears of MACC as these crimes will come back to haunt us in the coming years,” she said. - FMT