PARLIAMENT | The authorities never stopped investigating former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak in relation to the 1MDB scandal, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.
She was responding to Lim Guan Eng (Pakatan Harapan-Bagan) who questioned what happened to the special investigation team consisting of the police, MACC, Attorney-General’s Chambers, and Bank Negara Malaysia, formed in 2018 to probe the 1MDB case.
Lim also asked why the authorities were not re-investigating Najib over new revelations made by former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner about 1MDB’s dealings recently.
“We have never stopped the investigation on Najib, in relation to 1MDB, and Najib has now been sentenced,” Mas Ermieyati (above) responded.
They were speaking during the special chamber meeting on the motion by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (Harapan-Port Dickson) to discuss the matters revealed by Leissner during his witness testimony in the corruption trial of his ex-colleague Roger Ng in New York.
“With regards to the latest issue with Leissner, we are still in the midst of investigations.
“That is why, when we found out about it, we immediately called in (former Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd group CEO) Rohana Rozhan and we are also in the process of calling in several other people so we can investigate thoroughly,” Mas added.
During one of his testimonies, Leissner told a US federal court that Rohana, who he said was his lover, threatened to tell the authorities about his involvement in the 1MDB scandal unless he bought her a house.
He said he eventually spent approximately US$10 million (RM40 million) to buy Rohana a house in London.
Rohana has since said she will fully cooperate with the authorities in their investigations and has been questioned by the MACC.
‘US didn’t share information’
In the special chambers today, Fahmi Fadzil (Harapan-Lembah Pantai) also questioned if the Malaysian government was aware of the information exposed by Leissner and why it was not made public earlier.
Mas Ermieyati refuted this, saying the MACC had not highlighted these matters because it was not known to them.
“It is because the Malaysian government only found out what happened when Leissner made those revelations because, all this time, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) had kept the information to themselves and did not share it with the Malaysian government,” she said.
She said it is good that these matters are now coming to light as they would assist Malaysian authorities in their investigations.
Mas Ermieyati also noted it is not easy for Malaysian authorities to investigate and obtain information when it involves a foreign country that is considered a global superpower. - Mkini
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