PRIME Minister Najib Razak’s visit to White House next month is shameful as long as the US Department of Justice brands him a “kleptocrat” linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang in urging the cabinet to veto the visit.

“It is a great national shame for Najib to go to the White House to meet US President Donald Trump when he has not cleared or cleansed himself after being branded by the American government as a kleptocrat by being ‘MO1’ in the US Department of Justice (DOJ)’s largest kleptocratic forfeiture suit of more than US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets,” said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim is referring to a DoJ civil suit filed last year seeking to recover US$1 billion in assets allegedly bought with money stolen from 1MDB. One of the alleged beneficiaries of these assets was a Malaysian Official 1 (MO1). In September last year, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Rahman Dahlan confirmed that MO1 was Najib.

Lim said the cabinet should focus on the 1MDB scandal, which had brought much infamy and ignominy to Malaysia.

“Do your patriotic duty to veto the prime minister’s humiliating and demeaning visit to the White House to meet President (Donald) Trump, or all of you would have failed your patriotic duty to defend, uphold and promote the honour, reputation and standing of Malaysia in the international community of nations,” Lim urged the cabinet in an open letter ahead of its weekly Wednesday meeting.

He also cautioned that the visit was not a coup for Najib, as Barisan Nasional and Umno strategists might think.

“In fact, it is the very opposite.

“Najib’s scheduled visit to the White House and meeting with Trump has given rise to questions such as the outcome of ‘MO1 vs US01’. 

“Will Najib triumph over Trump” and “Will Trump trump Najib?’,” he said, adding that Najib should establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on 1MDB ahead of his visit to Washington.

“The least Najib should do before leaving for the United States next month would be to announce the establishment of an RCI into the 1MDB scandal to demonstrate to Malaysians, the United States and the world that he is not a kleptocrat” and that the US DoJ’s accusations on MO1 had no basis, said Lim.

Najib is scheduled to meet Trump on September 12 during his three-days visit to US, where he is also expected to meet senior politicians from both main American political parties.

Lim also asked how could Najib visit the White house when ministers and top government officials had accused the US government of interfering in Malaysia’s affairs, including saying that the DoJ suit was a plot to topple the prime minister.

The Gelang Patah MP also said he was shocked that the government, through Umno Information chief Annuar Musa, had taken the position that 1MDB’s losses were only on paper.

“Is Annuar suggesting that the infamous US$27.3 million (RM117 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond gifted to ‘wife of MO1’; the billions of ringgit worth of jewelleries, art pieces and luxury properties like hotels in Beverly Hills and London misappropriated by Jho Low from 1MDB, including those gifted to Leonardo Di Caprio and Miranda Kerr, and Jho Low’s US$250 million (approximately RM1.069 billion) world’s  54th largest mega yacht  in existence and US$35.4 million for a Bombardier Global 5000 jet, are just ‘phantoms on paper’ and not real at all?,” asked Lim. – August 28, 2017.