I am writing to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, to appear before the Cabinet meeting in Kuching on Wednesday to present the case why the Cabinet must take a stand on the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.
There are at least eight recent developments which make a Cabinet stand on the 1MDB scandal urgent and imperative, viz:
1. The acceptance of the resignation of the 1MDB Board of Directors who have been found to have failed to exercise diligently their fiduciary duties to protect the interest of the shareholders by reining in a rogue management.
2. The acceptance of the recommendation by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for the Board of Advisors chaired by Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to be dissolved with immediate effect.
3. The acceptance of the recommendation by the PAC for Article 117 of 1MDB’s Memorandum and Articles of Association which provides for the ultimate decision-making authority to be placed in the hands of the Prime Minister be abolished.
4. The US$50 million claim by International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) against the Ministry of Finance (MoF) based on the indemnity provided by MoF under the binding 1MDB-IPIC debt-asset swap term sheet.
5. The default of US$1.75 billion of bonds which were guaranteed by IPIC, and the resulting cross default on RM7.4 billion of borrowings by 1MDB which means that the tax-payers are already staring at an immediate bailout of more than RM14 billion.
6. The impending default of another US$1.75 billion of bonds guaranteed by IPIC in October and a RM800 million loan from SOCSO which will further burden the tax-payers with a RM7.8 billion bailout.
7. How the Management of 1MDB made payments of US$3.51 billion to a fictitious “Aabar Investment PJS Limited” set up in the British Virgin Islands which is completely unrelated to the real “Aabar Investment PJS” of Abu Dhabi, which was the underlying cause of the breakdown of the debt-asset swap agreement with IPIC.
8. The allegation by the Wall Street Journal, whose previous allegations have proven true, that the US$681 million which was deposited into Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal bank account originated from 1MDB and were transferred from the fictitious “Aabar Investment PJS Limited” via intermediaries. Furthermore, Wall Street Journal have subsequently alleged that the total deposits into Najib’s personal bank accounts exceed US$1 billion or more than RM4.2 billion.
The Cabinet must also direct the Royal Malaysian Police to immediately expedite investigations into the above matters, grant the Auditor-General full powers to write to all 1MDB’s banking institutions to request for documents and for the Public Accounts Committee to extend its investigations into 1MDB.
I hope to get a positive response so that I can appear before the Cabinet at its meeting in Kuching, as I have not been able to present an urgent and imperative case for the Cabinet to take a stand on the 1MDB scandal in the recent meeting of Parliament.
This is because I had been suspended from Parliament for six months in wanting the Prime Minister to assume full responsibility and give accountability for his twin mega scandals.
As I had made clear when I was suspended from Parliament, I would make up for my “forced” absence from Parliament for six months in a nation-wide tour of parliamentary constituencies to seek public feedback whether Malaysians want Najib to answer two simple questions: Where the monies from Najib’s twin mega scandals came from, and where the monies have gone to.
I can now state with authority that in my visit to 120 Parliamentary constituencies, the overwhelming majority of Malaysians want Najib to answer these two simple questions.
Had Najib or anyone of the Ministers visited 120 Parliamentary constituencies in the past six months to seek the views of the people about the 1MDB scandal as well as Najib’s donation scandal, as I had done?
If I can appear before the Cabinet at its meeting in Kuching, I would also brief the Prime Minister and all the Cabinet Ministers about the public feedback I received in my visit to 120 parliamentary constituencies in the past six months.
(Media Statement in Kapit on Monday, 2nd May 2016)