PRIME Minister Najib Razak should be the first person to be investigated for spreading fake news for claiming that RM42 billion was “not missing” from 1Malaysia Development Board, said DAP leader Tony Pua. 

Yesterday, Najib defended 1MDB’s debt, saying the money had not “disappeared”, unlike the RM31 billion loss incurred in Bank Negara’s (BNM) foreign exchange trading scandal.

Earlier this week, Najib had announced that the government was mulling new laws to curb fake news, which he said was a threat to political stability and public order.

“It cannot be more ironical that the biggest purveyor of fake news today is none other than the prime minister himself,” said Pua, who is the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, in a statement.

“The first person who should be investigated for spreading the most outrageous ‘fake news’ in the country is none other than the prime minister himself, who claimed that the 1MDB’s monster RM42 billion debt is not (money that has gone) missing. 

“It cannot not be more ironical that Najib was lying through his teeth about 1MDB’s RM42 billion debt in front of 1,200 Muslim and village leaders who were about to depart on a holy pilgrimage to Mecca.”

Pua, who is DAP national publicity secretary, pointed out that in the BNM scandal, no one, not even the Umno leaders at the time, had been accused of “pocketing the money”.  

“However, in the case of 1MDB, the whereabouts of RM42 billion or a substantial portion of it is unknown or unverified.  

“In fact, if indeed Najib Razak was telling the truth, the question must be asked, why did the Cabinet classify the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB under the Official Secrets Act?” 

Pua asked whether Najib could publicly state where US$940 million (RM3.65 billion) worth of “units” had gone after the original custodial bank, BSI Bank was shut down.

If all monies were accounted for in 1MDB, why is it that 1MDB had failed to produce a single audited financial statement since March 2014, said Pua.

He said it was the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) highlighting of the missing funds that led Deloitte Malaysia to withdraw its endorsement of 1MDB’s 2013 and 2014 financial accounts.  

“This means that 1MDB has not had a properly audited financial statement for the past six years.”
 
Najib has consistently denied wrongdoing following the DoJ’s revelations that the money trail showed that funds originating from 1MDB had gone into the prime minister’s personal bank account. 

The DoJ reported that US$732 million was transferred into Najib’s Ambank account between 2011 and 2014. It alleged that some of these funds were subsequently used to acquire a US$27.3 million pink diamond pendant for Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, and a US$250 million luxury yacht for Malaysian financier Jho Taek Low, also known as Jho Low. A sum of US$238 million also found its way from 1MDB to Red Granite Capital, a US company owned by Rosmah’s son, Riza Aziz’.

“The above does not yet include billions of dollars’ worth of other assets, including private jets, luxury properties around the world and rare expensive masterpieces, which are in the process of being seized by the United States government. 

“Worst of all, all our questions relating to all of the above have been rejected by the Parliament Speaker so that Najib Razak need not be accountable to Malaysians.  

It cannot be more obvious that the prime minister has plenty to hide,” said Pua.

The 1MDB saga is an unresolved issue that continues to plague Barisan Nasional and is expected to figure prominently in the coming elections.

Here is a recap of the questions surrounding the state investment fund.

How are BN and the prime minister linked to 1MDB?

Conceived as a sovereign wealth fund in the mould of Temasek in Singapore, 1MDB was incepted in 2008 as the Terengganu Investment Authority under the administration of then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Najib, when he became prime minister, renamed the fund 1MDB in July 2009. He become the first chairman of 1MDB, which mission was to   turn Kuala Lumpur into a financial hub and boost income through investments in energy assets.

Najib relinquished the chair in May 2016 after reports that 1MDB had missed payments of some US$11 billion to banks and bond holders. In 2015, the Wall Street Journal alleged that US$700 million from 1MDB had found its way to Najib’s personal account in AmBank through a complex labyrinth of transactions in British Virgin Island, the US, Singapore and Malaysia. 

Najib denied any wrongdoing and said the money in his account was a gift from the Saudi royal family. 

Did the Malaysian taxpayer lose any money?

1MDB has sold its assets to pay off some of its loans amounting to RM42 billion. Not all of the loans have been fully repaid.

Take, for instance, the US$1.2 billion that 1MDB paid Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) last year. It was not made known how 1MDB came up with the cash to settle the debt. Ministry of Finance officials have similarly kept mum about the payments.

The bad news is that the US$1.2 billion was merely a portion of a US$6.5 billion debt that 1MDB had agreed to pay following arbitration in London.

A statement from IPIC last April said: “1MDB and MoF undertake to IPIC to assume responsibility for all future interest and principal payments under two bonds issued by 1MDB. 

“The first bond is for US$1.75 billion at a fixed rate of 5.75% issued by 1MDB Energy (Langat) Limited the second one is for US$1.75 billion at a fixed rate of 5.99% issued by 1MDB Energy Limited according to the statement. Both bonds are due in 2022.”

Besides money, Malaysia has also lost face and credibility as a nation, which has turned “kleptocracy”, according to the US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions. 

Who is being punished for the scandal in Malaysia?

No one in Malaysia is being punished. 1MDB is being investigated for money-laundering in at least six countries, including the US, Switzerland and Singapore. In Singapore, banks were closed and a banker was jailed four and a half years for aiding in money laundering activities related to 1MDB.

After lengthy investigations by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, police, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Public Accounts Committee, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali declared Najib cleared of all wrongdoing.

What’s the big deal about DoJ and 1MDB?

Last June, the DoJ filed its third forfeiture suit seeking to seize the Equanimity, a US$165 million yacht owned by Jho Low; movie rights to Dumb and Dumber 2 produced by Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz; and a 22-carat pink diamond pendant and necklace worth US$27 million for the wife of “Malaysian Official 1”.

The DoJ estimates about US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB although its CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy has declared that the company did not lose any money.

Who is Jho Low?

A businessman from Penang, Low Taek Jho has admitted to being an adviser to Terengganu Investment Authority before it became 1MDB.

He is reported to control a company called Good Star Limited, which is alleged to have received from 1MDB US$700 million that was  earmarked for PetroSaudi.

The Wall Street Journal reported that around US$529 million was deposited into his account in Singapore from 2011-2013. – February 3, 2018.