By Stephanie Jacob
DAP MP (member of parliament) Tony Pua has questioned whether the police have acted on the report filed by UMNO Batu Kawan deputy division chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan calling for a “detailed and comprehensive” investigation into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).
The MP accused the police of being “remarkably silent on this issue”, despite the fact that 1MDB is a hot topic among Malaysians.
“Given the seriousness of the alleged improprieties and the impact of the RM42 billion debt accumulated in just five years on the country’s economy, it is important to find out from the Royal Malaysian Police if investigations on the company have actually started,” said Pua.
Pua compares the slow response to the 1MDB report to the police’s speedy response to lawyer Eric Paulsen’s case. Paulsen had sent tweets criticising Jakim and was quickly acted upon. Pua says that that case even gained the “very special attention” of Inspector-General Police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar.
“The rakyat wishes that the IGP will dedicate his best resources to leave no stones unturned when investigating the 1MDB scandal. We certainly hope that it will not become like many other cases where government or Barisan Nasional-related personalities are involved and they are bestowed the ‘No Further Action (NFA)’ privileged treatment,” he said.
In December, Khairuddin lodged a report against 1MDB and its directors on the back of news reports, which he said showed that there were weaknesses in 1MDB’s management of taxpayers funds.
Tony Pua
Pua adds that although Khairuddin has subsequently met Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak who is the chairman of the 1MDB board of advisors, he still remains unconvinced and has since then filed a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).
He noted that it has been five weeks since the police report was filed, and that the police should be able to report that statements have been taken from the management and/or directors of 1MDB.
He also called on the MACC to conduct a thorough investigation on the report made by Khairuddin. In particular, Pua asked the agency to look into “the significantly higher than normal interest rates paid for the 1MDB bonds as well as the excess of 10% ‘commissions, fees and charges’ paid to Goldman Sachs International to raise some US$6.5 billion of borrowings.”
1MDB president Arul Kanda must also provide his full cooperation to the investigation authorities to ensure the culprits behind the 1MDB scandal are held accountable, said the MP. This, he said, would allow Arul to start his tenure at the fund with a clean slate, which is uncompromised by any questionable activities of the past.
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