The speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak at the monthly assembly of the Prime Minister’s Department on Monday is probably the best proof that the country has a Prime Minister who is living in a world of his own make-belief, completely divorced from reality.
Otherwise, how could Najib repeat what he said in his 2016 New Year Message that his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM55 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals are no more issues in the country as they had been fully resolved, as he had promised in June last year?
The first ten days of the year should prove to Najib that he could not be more wrong when he said in his 2016 New Year message on 31st December 2015 that his twin mega scandals are no more issues in the new year, as they are still very much “alive and kicking”, not only catapulting Malaysia to the third placing among the world’s “worst corruption scandals in 2015”, but continue to haunt and hound Malaysians in the public domain every day with new angles, developments, perspectives and revelations.
Lenggong is the 62nd parliamentary constituency I am visiting after my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22 for basically demanding an answer from the Prime Minister to the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?”
Wherever I went in these 62 parliamentary constituencies, whether the MP is from UMNO/Barisan Nasional or the Opposition, the people regardless of race and religion are totally dissatisfied with Najib’s failure to come clean on his twin mega scandals.
What unites Malaysians regardless of race, religion or even politics in all these 62 parliamentary constituencies is the demand that Najib should stop prevaricating and procrastinating but to come clean on the twin mega scandals, which Ministers had promised to do on Dec. 3, the last day of the 25-day parliamentary budget meeting last year, but which Najib and the Cabinet backed off and reneged in the last-minute.
Without any shadow of doubt, Najib’s twin mega scandals continue to dominate as the top scandals in the country, whether discussed by Malaysians and visitors openly or in private discussions.
I have no doubt, for instance, that the top issues of interest and discussion among the Commonwealth Speakers who attended the recent 23rd Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC 2016) in Kota Kinabalu were not parliamentary reforms but Najib’s twin mega scandals, although they are not on the agenda of any public meetings.
I propose to visit over 150 parliamentary constituenciues before I return to Parliament at the end of my six-month suspension, and I have no doubt that there would be a national consensus among Malaysians in all the 150 Parliamentary constituencies to demand that Najib should give full and satisfactory accouning for his twin mega scandals.
Almost every day, the twin mega scandals are in the news.
The latest is the call by the former Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman on the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali to treat with urgency the investigation papers on SRC International and the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had submitted to the Attorney-General at the end of last year, as they touched on the integrity of the Prime Minister.
Saying that “the world is watching Malaysia”, Abu Talib said Apandi must realise that these cases were of public importance, especially as it also involved a prime minister currently in office.
Abu Talib said Apandi should give priority to these cases and go through the investigation papers expeditiously because the integrity of a sitting prime minister and his government is at stake.
The former Attorney-General even suggested:
“If need be, he (Apandi) must work beyond office hours to go through the voluminous documents because it is his duty to make a decision as soon as possible.”
Let me qualify what Abu Talib said. It is not just “the world is watching Malaysia”, but Malaysians even in the most remote villages and parts of Malaysia are watching Najib, as he seemed to have modified and betrayed his ealier slogan of “People First. Performance Now.” to “Najib First. Performance Now.”
Following the advice of former Attorney General Abu Talib that “top priority” should be given to MACC investigation papers on SRC and RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal , Apandi should declare when he is going to decide on these issues or whether he is going to take months and even years before any decision.
If the MACC investigation papers propose the prosecution of the Prime Minister on corruption charges or other offences under the law, will Apandi have the gumption and guts to approve such prosecutions?
(Speech at the DAP “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” kopitiam ceramah in Lenggong on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 12 noon)
Like the English criminal justice system, the malaysian criminal justice system demands that all criminals be brought to justice ie be brought to court to face charges. That is the fundamental principle of criminal law. And normally, it is the investigating authorities who will prefer the charges against the accused.
In the case of corruption offences, section 58 MACC Act requires a consent of the Public Prosecutor before a person could be charged in court. That consent could also be issued by the DPP who can exercise the powers of the PP. All the PP or the DPP need only to satisfy himself is that there is a prima facie case to go on trial. Therre is no necessity to go through the evidence with a fine tooth combed. That should be the duty of the Judges. If the DPP is satisfied that there is a prima facie cae, he has to issue the ‘consent to prosecute’. It is not up to him to approve the prosecution. Consent to prosecute is wholly based on the sufficiency of the evidence.
Once ‘consent to prosecute’ is obtained, it is the IO himself who will prepare the charge sheet, register the charge in court and inform the accused to appear in court either voluntarily or by way of arrest warrant to answer the charges.
Najib’s RM42million SCR’s case is very simple compared to Dato harun’s Idris’s case or Khir Toyo’s case since the bribe money was deposited in his account. The receipt of the bribe money is conclusively proved beyond doubt. And sect 50 of the Macc Act says, once the monies had been proved to have been received, there is a legal presumption that it was received corruptly unless the contrary is proven,
The investigation paper on the RM42million was not only scrutinized by Macc investigators, their directors of investigation and their senior DPPs but also an independent panel consisting of lawyers and an ex ACA DPP/CA Judge. With so many qualified people having scrutinized the investigation paper, Apandi;s work is cut out. His hesitation in deciding can only mean that he is searching for some evidence to clear Najib.