MP to Sidek: Here's something you can do, return RM30k wages

 

Former chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan has told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that 1MDB paid him RM30,000 a month without him having to lift a finger in return.

However, a DAP lawmaker said there is something which Sidek can do now - return the sum accumulated over a period of five years.

"Is he proud of having had such a position where he did not have to attend meetings or do work?

"It is important to raise the question of returning that money in view of him admitting that he did not do any work while on the 1MDB board.

"Would he be willing to do so?" asked Lim Lip Eng in a statement this evening.

The Kepong MP said Sidek owed the public an explanation for his conduct.

"Anyone would be suspicious if he is paid for doing nothing. Didn't Sidek feel guilty? He never asked questions about the investigations on 1MDB for (five) years.

"During that period, didn't he realise that something was amiss?" he asked.

Sidek's revelation, said Lim, underscored the need for Putrajaya to disclose the number of "paid to do nothing" positions in government agencies and government-linked companies.

"This matter cannot be taken lightly, especially since Sidek is (at the time) a powerful civil servant who had an influence on other civil servants," he added.

Never briefed about 1MDB

Yesterday, Sidek said he was paid around RM30,000 a month to sit on 1MDB's board of advisers from July 1, 2010, until June 23, 2012, when he was still chief secretary.

He was retained on the board following his retirement for RM10,000 a month until June 2015 when he was appointed chairperson of Petronas.

Sidek said he was never briefed about 1MDB nor participated in discussions regarding the firm.

He added that he never asked Najib Abdul Razak - the prime minister at the time - about 1MDB because he understood that the firm was meant to fund BN.

Sidek was testifying before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah who is presiding over the trial against Najib for four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion of 1MDB's funds. - Mkini