PM all-powerful as institutions have failed, says Ambiga

Kamles Kumar Kamles Kumar Updated 8 years ago · Published on 11 Feb 2018 6:54PM · 5 Comments

Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan speaking at a forum organised by Bersih 2.0 in Petaling Jaya today. She says in the multiple suits filed against Najib Razak over his involvement in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd scandal, the prime minister has not appeared in court even once. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, February 11, 2018.

MALAYSIAN institutions have failed as Prime Minister Najib Razak has ultimate power, said former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan today.

The senior lawyer said the country’s institutions were useless as Najib had escaped prosecution over the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal and the suspect US$731 million (RM2.6 billion) in his personal bank accounts.

“When the prime minister is so overwhelmingly powerful, there are basically no limits to (his) power. It means that the institutions are not working.

“When the US Department of Justice first made announcements on 1MDB, surely the PM can’t survive that. No PM should survive that.

“Here we are, on the eve of elections, with the possibility that he will continue as PM,” she said at a forum organised by Bersih 2.0 in Petaling Jaya.

In 2016, the DoJ had said US$731 million had found its way into the accounts of “Malaysian Official No. 1” (MO1).

The money was allegedly siphoned from state firm 1MDB.

The DoJ did not name Najib, but Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan later confirmed that MO1 was the prime minister.

The department has also filed suits to seize more than US$1 billion in luxury properties and artworks, believed to have been bought using money stolen from 1MDB.

It then launched a criminal investigation last year, seeking to delay the civil suits.

US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has called the 1MDB scandal “kleptocracy at its worst”.

In Malaysia, Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali has exonerated Najib ,with the latter insisting that he has done nothing wrong.

Ambiga said numerous attempts to unseal the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB through the court system had failed.

Two weeks ago, Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali had failed to get a court order to unseal the report, which has been put under the Official Secrets Act.

Ambiga said in the multiple suits filed against Najib over his involvement in 1MDB, he did not appear in court even once.

“So many suits against the PM, but he hasn’t even come to court. Not held to account anywhere.

“The Attorney-General’s Chambers has closed the file on 1MDB, but the rest of the world has opened files, everywhere.

“An institution is only worth its salt when it is prepared to hold the most powerful man in the country to account. Hope this happens soon.” – February 11, 2018.

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Comments

  • What Ambiga says here is of worth to the public if people have heard a certain news which we do not know whether we should trust or not, and we are depending on the the view of a personality with weight to clarify our uncertainty.

    What ambiga says here is of no worth to the public because 1) everyone already knows that the PM post in malaysia is so powerful that it eclipses the powers and functions of all other institution of the state, and thus we need not no clarification about the subject and 2) because ambiga simply does not have the sort of weight as an personality to influence public views.

    People who believe her are only people who believe in what she is saying before she even said it and would still believe in what she said even if she did not say it. Her weight as a public personality is not sufficient to influence the mind of a person who is still unsure about what they should believe or change the mind of a person who had hitherto held the opposite believe.

    Honestly i think Ambiga is just being used here as a mouthpiece to carry forward someone elses message, and because being a women and a indian, someone is hoping that they could reach out to women and indians if Ambiga is the one they use to carry their message.


    Posted 8 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply

    • WTF have you been smoking!

      Such otiose language with lacks thought and reason reflects the dearth of original ideas to propell the

      Point made:

      Posted 8 years ago by Manmohan Singh · Reply

    • After my earlier response to you in the other article also pertaning to Ambiga, I guess your pattern of articulation are extremely shallow, showing familiarity of Umno cyber trooper. Take a rest , and just wait for BRIM or whatever handouts rather than stressing yourself to present empty pointers.

      Posted 8 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply

    • What a dumb comment by an UMNO cybertrooper, codename Nehru Sathiamoorthy. Ambiga is more believable than anyone in the wooden Malaysian cabinet.

      Posted 8 years ago by Insightful Malaysian · Reply

  • Goes to show that the Malaysian kleptocrat, Najib, is now one of the most powerful men in the world. Not even Trump can do this. Malaysia, be afraid; be very afraid.

    Posted 8 years ago by Insightful Malaysian · Reply