Sue now to protect Malaysia’s integrity, Putrajaya told after WSJ expose

KUALA LUMPUR — Putrajaya must initiate immediate legal action to defend Malaysia’s global reputation, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today in the wake of an incriminating report of a US$700 million (S$942 million) money trail from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to the personal bank accounts of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The senior parliamentarian urged Mr Najib not to be ambivalent but to sue US daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for its controversial allegation he noted government officials have unconvincingly claimed to be unsubstantiated.

“Najib cannot just rely on an ambivalent and ambiguous denial as sufficient response to the WSJ report yesterday, especially as WSJ today stood by its report and defended its investigative article accusing the prime minister of embezzlement, saying it was based on government investigations the report of which was seen by Najib himself,” the Gelang Patah MP said in a statement.

He added that a lawsuit “threat” made through Mr Najib’s political secretary Muhammad Khairun Aseh would not suffice to reclaim the honour of the prime minister, the government and the country, all of which have been tarnished in the WSJ broadstroke.

Mr Lim said the more damaging taint to Malaysia’s name was WSJ’s defence of its controversial report, as recounted by its Hong Kong bureau chief Ken Brown in a phone interview with US broadcaster CNBC last Thursday.

“Even more serious, WSJ said the documents it saw, which were the basis of its report , have been shared with the Attorney-General and others in the Government.

“In this connection, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail owes an explanation to the country and people why he has taken no action to protect the integrity of the government and Malaysia when he had seen the damning documents concerned against the Prime Minister?” Mr Lim demanded.

He also quizzed the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission if it has seen the documents WSJ claimed depicted an incriminating funnel of funds from the troubled 1MDB into the PM’s pockets “or is it just totally irrelevant in the larger scheme of things?”

Mr Lim called on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Cabinet to act and ready themselves to go against their boss by holding an emergency Parliamentary meeting next week to decide on Mr Najib’s leadership.

“Malaysia cannot be rudderless, with a Prime Minister accused to serious and even heinous Prime Ministerial misconduct who is not prepared to do anything, apart from uttering ‘sweet nothings’, to establish his innocence and integrity.

“If Najib cannot secure a confidence vote in the emergency meeting of Parliament, he should gracefully resign as Prime Minister,” the opposition lawmaker said.

In an explosive report yesterday, WSJ said 1MDB investigators have discovered five separate deposits from two sources that were made into Mr Najib’s accounts, citing from documents that it claimed to have viewed.

The largest two transactions, it said, were for US$621 million and US$61 million allegedly made in March 2013, shortly before the tumultuous Election 2013 in May.

“The cash came from a company registered in the British Virgin Islands via a Swiss bank owned by an Abu Dhabi state fund.

“The fund, International Petroleum Investment Co, or IPIC, has guaranteed billions of dollars of 1MDB’s bonds and in May injected US$1 billion in capital into the fund to help meet looming debt repayments,” WSJ reported.

A further transfer of RM42 million, purportedly made into Mr Najib’s account at the end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015, is believed to have come from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB that was in 2012 parked under the Finance Ministry that Mr Najib heads, WSJ said.

“The money moved through another company owned by SRC International and then to a company that works exclusively for 1MDB, and finally to Mr Najib’s personal accounts in three separate deposits, the government documents show,” the report said.

According to WSJ, however, investigators said that one of the companies that the RM42 million passed through was Ihsan Perdana Sdn Bhd, a firm that provides corporate social responsibility programs for 1MDB’s charity foundation.

“The Wall Street Journal examination of the use of funds tied to 1MDB for Mr Najib’s election campaign showed that the money was slated to be used for corporate social responsibility programs as well,” the daily said.

Mr Najib has since denied taking public money for personal gain.

1MDB is currently under probe for alleged impropriety by a number of agencies, including the Auditor-General’s Department, the police and Bank Negara Malaysia. THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE