Would a thief leave RM174 billion in Petronas, asks Najib

SM Amin SM Amin Updated 5 years ago · Published on 5 Apr 2019 10:30AM · 13 Comments

Najib Razak says Petronas’ billions were intact when he left office, and it was Pakatan Harapan that has caused the money to diminish, at a ceramah in Bandar Sri Sendayan, Negri Sembilan, last night. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Kamal Ariffin, April 5, 2019.

FORMER prime minister Najib Razak denied allegations that he stole from the government when he was in office, saying  his administration had left state oil company Petronas with a cash reserve of RM174 billion.

Najib said it was Pakatan Harapan which has used those funds for federal expenses when it took over Putrajaya, after which the national debt saw a sudden rise.

“The national debt during my time stood at RM686 billion, as confirmed by Bank Negara Malaysia. Today, the national debt is RM777.1 billion – it has gone up by RM85 billion in 10 months.

“And because of that, they (government) took Petronas’ money, as much as RM82 billion. If I were really a thief, which thief would leave as much as RM174 billion in Petronas?” he said during a ceramah in Bandar Sri Sendayan, Negri Sembilan, last night.

Najib is facing 42 criminal charges including of money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in relation to his brainchild, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and its missing billions.

He is on trial now for seven of those charges, which are linked to SRC International, a former 1MDB subsidiary. The trial opened on Wednesday in the high court in Kuala Lumpur.

In November last year, Petronas announced that it would be paying an additional RM30 billion in special dividends in the 2019 Budget to help the government pay RM37 billion in goods and services tax and income tax refunds.

Petronas, in a statement, said the special dividend payment would not adversely affect operations.

Petronas announced a 12% revenue increase to RM251 billion last year from RM223.6 billion in 2017, driven by higher average realised prices for its key products.

Najib said that while he was in power, he had only taken a small portion of dividends from Petronas so that it would have more money to invest in new sources of income. – April 5, 2019.

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Comments

  • A smart thief will never take from the piggy bank but will create debts to be paid by the Govt.

    Posted 5 years ago by Besaman Mucho · Reply

  • A smart thief will not steal lock, stock and barrel in one go. Najib, you can only fool the kampung folks and those that have live off your dedak.

    Posted 5 years ago by Rupert Lum · Reply

  • It's not that you want to leave behind the money untouch, it's because the money was so well guarded that you had no chance to swindle it.

    Posted 5 years ago by Chee yee ng · Reply

  • Give the thief enough time...

    Posted 5 years ago by Léon Moch · Reply

  • Dear Najib,
    1. The court will find you are a thief.
    2. Then you will go to jail.
    Thanks.

    Posted 5 years ago by Mohammad Badry · Reply

  • Given time, you would have. THIEF!

    Posted 5 years ago by Watchdog Watchdog · Reply

  • Yes, the Thief had stollen billions and a mere RM174 billion is nothing.

    Posted 5 years ago by Awang Bilis · Reply

  • Could it be because he got booted out of power before he could get to Petronas?

    Posted 5 years ago by Leong Hong · Reply

  • Money not missing is proof that he is no thief? By the same logic, because not every penny in banks are stolen, this must surely mean that there is no such thing as thieves in the world.

    Posted 5 years ago by Léon Moch · Reply

  • JIbby you didn't take that one is all because we managed to stop you from it, if you were in power I bet its also be taken with the rate of spending spree you and your family did.

    Posted 5 years ago by Teruna Kelana · Reply

  • When a person is full after eating a meal, he will leave the leftover in the fridge. This is quite natural.

    Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

    • He will eat it later.

      Posted 5 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • So a thief is a person who must be proven to have stolen from every coffer and cookie jar or stolen from the richest coffer or cookie jar? if he did not, then he is not a thief. And so what is this person? is he then a borrower? may be he can be considered an investor of public funds in the luxury goods lavished on himself? or may be the person is a benefactor as he increases his happiness in buying luxuries with money that is not his, he as the leader of the nation has increased the nett happiness of all malaysians.

    Posted 5 years ago by Michael Raj · Reply