Probe Najib over ‘1MDB funds for polls’ claim, Guan Eng tells MACC

 

Lim Guan Eng said Tim Leissner had also testified that he had personally met Najib Razak.

PETALING JAYA: DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng has urged graft busters to investigate Najib Razak over a claim in a US court that funds from a bond sale for 1MDB were used to finance an election campaign.

The revelation was made in former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia chairman Tim Leissner’s testimony in the 1MDB trial of his ex-colleague Roger Ng.

Leissner, who had been Ng’s supervisor at Goldman, and is now the star witness in the trial, said he received kickbacks from fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, or Jho Low, for helping to embezzle funds that Goldman raised for 1MDB through three bond sales.

Leissner had testified that though he received millions in kickbacks from the first two bond sales, he did not receive anything from the third bond issue because he was told by Jho Low that the money was needed “to fund the 2013 general election in Malaysia”.

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat today, Lim (PH-Bagan) said Leissner also told a US court that he had personally met Najib when he was prime minister and dealt with his private secretaries.

Lim wanted to know if the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) would launch an investigation into the issue and get an explanation from the Pekan MP.

Lim also raised questions about the 1MDB Special Task Force that was set up in 2018 to look into the possible criminal conduct of individuals involved in the management of 1MDB.

“Has the 1MDB Special Task Force been dissolved or its financial resources and manpower reduced?” asked Lim, stressing the need for a full investigation as the scandal involved RM51 billion. - FMT