PARLIAMENT | Najib Abdul Razak (BN-Pekan) has informed the Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun that 1MDB did pay the principal on loans in 2017 and 2018.
The former prime minister claimed that the payments were made through monies generated by the sale of 1MDB assets such as Edra Energy and the Tun Razak Exchange.
This explanation was contained in Najib's letter to Azhar, who is considering whether to allow a motion to refer the Pekan MP to the rights and privileges committee for telling the Dewan Rakyat on March 2 that "not a single sen" of taxpayer funds was used to pay the principal in 1MDB loans.
The contents of Najib's explanation to Azhar was revealed by Tony Pua (Pakatan Harapan-Damansara), who was asked by Azhar to respond to all four explanations submitted by the accused.
Pua (above, left), a former political secretary to a finance minister, explained that the record showed that 1MDB's debt repayment of RM6.47 billion and RM1.65 billion in 2017 and 2018 respectively was performed by the Finance Ministry and Finance Minister Incorporated.
The proceeds of the disposal of Edra Energy and Tun Razak Exchange assets, explained Pua, had already been utilised by 1MDB before 2017.
According to Pua, Najib told Azhar that his March 2 speech only meant to refer to the period after the Harapan administration was formed (May 2018).
The DAP lawmaker argued that Najib's explanation was an "afterthought" as no one who read the latter's March 2 speech would have drawn the same conclusions.
Najib further confusing speaker - Pua
Pua added that it has been three weeks since Najib made the speech and he has never corrected himself in the House nor to the public.
"It is clear that the member for Pekan has shown an intention to confuse the Dewan Rakyat. In fact, he has doubled his crimes by (now) trying to confuse the speaker," wrote Pua.
Two days ago, the speaker told the Dewan Rakyat he was still considering Pua's motion to censure Najib. Azhar added that he needed time to study a "thick" written explanation from Najib.
Azhar said he will also have to study Pua's response to Najib's written explanations before coming to a decision.
Najib's March 2 speech had contradicted both claims by former finance minister Lim Guan Eng and current Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz that public funds had to be used to cover for 1MDB's massive debts.
Zafrul said the government was still short of RM17 billion to meet 1MDB's debt obligations between 2023 and 2039. - Mkini
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