SOME time ago in Malaysia, it was reported that a taskforce investigating allegations that an inquiry into a Malaysian state-controlled investment fund (1MDB) found hundreds of millions of dollars had been transferred to the prime minister’s (Najib Razak’s) personal bank accounts.

Prime minister Najib Razak slammed the accusations as “vile” and “malicious” and threatened possible legal action in his first direct comments since an initial report on the matter by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The then attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail said in a statement that a multi-agency taskforce  was investigating “the allegations linked to the flow of funds into the personal accounts of prime minister Najib Razak”.

Meanwhile, some time ago in the US, it was reported that President Donald Trump and the  Kremlin have denied allegations that Russia and the Trump campaign colluded in the 2016 presidential election – but the probe into suspicions of Russian meddling is forging ahead.

A special counsel was appointed to investigate potential wrongdoing with the presidential campaign. The Department of Justice (DoJ) appointed Robert Mueller as its special counsel overseeing its investigation in May 2017.

Mueller was appointed after Attorney-General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation. His appointment also followed a growing Democratic outcry for someone outside the DoJ to handle the probe.

Sessions had recused himself from the Russia investigation after working on Trump’s campaign. Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller in place of Sessions, after Trump fired FBI director James Comey in May 2017 for investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Back in Malaysia, it was reported that the chief commissioner of Malaysia’s anti-graft agency, Abu Kassim Mohamed, might be replaced for health reasons, just as he handed over to the former attorney-general investigation papers on the RM2.6 billion donation to the prime minister and on the Finance Ministry’s SRC International.

However, on the day in July 2015 when Abu Kassim was going to do indict Najib, Gani was removed as attorney-general. Former Federal Court judge Mohamed Apandi Ali was appointed as the new attorney-general.

In 2016, the new attorney-general cleared Najib Razak of any wrongdoing after close to six months of investigations into the RM2.6 billion channelled into Najib’s bank accounts and into Finance Ministry-owned firm SRC International Sdn Bhd. Apandi said that there was “insufficient evidence” to implicate Najib and had ordered the MACC to close the investigation papers.

In the US, on October 8, the Trump said he had no plans to fire Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether Trump has obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe.

Back in Malaysia, in a stunning result that made political history May 9, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition formed Malaysia’s new government. The result brought to an end the rule of Barisan Nasional (BN), which had dominated Malaysian politics for decades. Najib was the head of BN.

In August 2018, Najib was slapped with three charges of money laundering and more criminal  charges came thereafter.

Meanwhile, in the US, the Democrats this week won the House of Representatives. For the first time since his election there is the potential for some kind of legislative check on Trump’s presidency. The House has subpoena power.

Immediately thereafter, Sessions was fired by Trump, mainly over his refusal to oversee the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in favour of Trump’s election in 2016.

Sessions’ chief of staff, Matthew Whitaker, who has criticised the inquiry, will take over temporarily. This means that Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein is no longer overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling.

We shall await for the next course of events. Your guess is as good as mine.

In the end, as much as one wrongdoer who holds public office tries and tries with all his might to hide the truth of his wrongdoing and abuse of power and trust, inevitably it will be revealed at the right time. – November 9, 2018.

* Puthan Perumal is a lawyer and reads The Malaysian Insight.