In just a week, the Malay Rulers’ concern about the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal has proved to be valid, legitimate and prescient, with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Ministers competing in political “tai chi” and the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda even claiming that 1MDB is “no longer under investigation”.
On Oct. 6, the Malay Rulers called on the government to complete the 1MDB investigations as soon as possible and to take “the appropriate stern action” against all found to be implicated.
The 1MDB CEO has shown utter disrespect and even contempt for the Malay Rulers when 1MDB came out with a statement yesterday saying that the Attorney-General’s explanation of why the firm was not charged emphasised the fact that it is no longer being investigated.
1MDB added that Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali’s press conference absolving 1MDB of breaching exchange laws compounds that of another enforcement agency that said it was not scrutinising the state-owned investment firm.
“This confirmation by the AGC reinforces the statement by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on 22 September 2015 that 1MDB is not under investigation,” it said.
It added that Apandi’s summary demonstrated that 1MDB adhered to the pertinent financial laws and confirmed that “no offence had been committed” by the firm.
Never mind the the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s immediate statement yesterday clarifying that it had never issued any statement saying that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was not under investigation.
The fact is that the 1MDB would not have issued such an outrageous statement and claim if the 1MBD CEO Arul Kanda had not been assured of full endorsement by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is also the Chairman of the 1MDB Advisory Board, and all the current Najib warriors “hulubalang”, including the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali.
The Malaysian public are utterly tired and fed up by these wiles and shadow plays by the powers-that-be while the country continues to bleed from a regime that refuses to accept the basic principles of accountability, transparency and good governance, even avoiding the question which I had repeated asked whether the 1MDB debts have ballooned from RM42 billion in early 2014 to over RM50 billion as revealed by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in his last speech as Deputy Prime Minister to the Cheras UMNO Division on July 26, 2015.
This does not seem to have very different from “Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burns”.
The time has come for the Prime Minister to present a White Paper on the 1MDB when Parliament meets on Monday as Malaysians are entitled to know whether the Malay Rulers had been misinformed and misguided about their statement of Oct. 6 on 1MDB investigations when the 1MDB is not even being investigated!