THE bad habit of announcing actions without details is spreading in Malaysia.

First are the government’s actions with its alphabet soup of Covid-19 restrictions wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Malaysians, where rules change depending on ministerial orders or people’s outrage.

Now, it is the legal action taken by the Finance Ministry’s units 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and SRC International in 22 suits to reclaim billions of dollars lost in the 1MDB scandal.

The ministry confirmed yesterday that four legal firms filed the suits on May 7 after business newspaper The Edge broke the news.

The news report cited sources disclosing that the government made the move after settlements with Goldman Sachs, AmBank and Deloitte to show it “is serious about pursuing the recovery of the money siphoned from 1MDB”.

Except that none of those named in the news report have yet to see any sign of writ or statement of claim of the suits against them.

One of them, Deutsche Bank, has said it has no knowledge of the suit, hours after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) dropped its 1MDB probe against the German bank.

Others contacted said they were still awaiting details or at least the writ of summons.

One legal source told The Malaysian Insight that The Edge’s court reporter was industrious enough to notice the suits in the court filing system over the weekend.

“We filed the writ and have a month to serve our papers. That hard-working reporter just got it out before others,” the source claimed, saying it has happened in other cases he worked on.

Except that other equally hard-working reporters and even lawyers did not come across the writs in the filing system until after the report was published.

Kudos to the reporter and newspaper for the scoop, but this begs the question of transparency in Putrajaya’s 1MDB recovery process that minority shareholders brought up when AmBank quietly settled with the ministry for RM2.83 billion rather than going through the courts.

Or for that matter, Deloitte. Only the Goldman Sachs settlement was publicised, but that was due to the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government putting its claims way ahead in public rather than through covert discussions.

Senior lawyers involved with a few of these companies are aghast and puzzled at the publicity splash ahead of any details or even the writ being served on their clients.

Is there a method to this madness? Or is it government policy to issue orders and suits first, and then fill in the details at leisure?

That has not worked with the Covid-19 response. The different lockdown rules, and even the emergency, have done little to bring down infection numbers or deaths, let alone restore confidence and the economy unlike in other nations.

The ministry is led by an experienced banker, a profession where diligence and forethought are the required qualities. It behoves the ministry and its lawyers to ensure action is taken transparently or it leads to speculation that this is just drama for the masses.

Or personal glory for lawyers already crowing about their success in filing the suits or the ministry in taking quick action when the justice system is slower.

It mustn’t be. Money has been lost and must be regained for Malaysia. Not for a boast. – May 11, 2021.