Nothing in PAC report that says I stole 1MDB money, says Najib

Muzliza Mustafa Muzliza Mustafa Updated 6 years ago · Published on 23 Mar 2018 9:22PM · 9 Comments

Prime Minister Najib Razak says there is not a single line in the Public Accounts Committee's 106-page report to indicate that he stole money from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Najjua Zulkefli, March 23, 2018.

PRIME Minister Najib Razak tonight spoke up in defence of himself in the matter of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s alleged financial shenanigans, saying the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report had cleared him of any wrongdoing 

Najib said it was also thanks to his instructions that the state-owned 1MDB was the most-investigated firm in Malaysian history.

“When the issue was raised, I ordered 1MDB to be investigated by PAC, the Auditor-General, the police. There are opposition representatives like Tan Seng Giaw and Tony Pua from DAP on the PAC. The (PAC) report was prepared and tabled. It was also uploaded in the internet. There were 106 pages of it,” he said.

“Was there a line in the report to say that I had stolen 1MDB money? The answer is no. Were there anything in there that said I had committed an offence? The answer is no. Was the money that came from Saudi Arabia 1MDB money? Absolutely not.”

Najib was responding to his adviser Idris Jala during the Q&A session at a National Transformation Programme (NTP) event at the city centre.

1MDB is the subject of investigation by the Swiss and US governments, among others, over suspicions of money laundering and kleptocracy involving billions of dollars.

Najib’s denial of involvement in the scandal has been affirmed by the attorney-general, who cleared him of any wrongdoing in 2016.

Najib tonight said the PAC report had concluded that 1MDB had a fragile business base to start with because it had received only RM1 million from the government.

“1MDB had big programmes and it borrowed RM42 billion at 5%, that’s RM2 billion interest to be paid a year. The first problem was the failure to list (1MDB energy arm) Edra because the 1MDB issue was politicised. They say RM42 billion was missing and because of that, it could not hold an IPO (initial public offering) and because of that, 1MDB faced a problem with cash flow,” said Najib

Because of that, the government went on to draw up a realisation plan to help 1MDB, he said.

“TRX (Tun Razak Exchange) has Mulia Towers, a building that is higher than KLCC, expected to be completed in August. Bandar Malaysia will have two MRT stations, the 500-acre land will be great in development. These assets we will monetise it and settle the 1MDB loan.” – March 23, 2018.

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Comments

  • Ha ha ha the pac report prepared by my own kind

    Posted 6 years ago by Leslie Chan · Reply

  • I don't know what PAC said or what all the other experts said, but i think najib indeed took money that didn't belong to him for one reason: if you didn't take money that didn't belong to you, your story is simple, but if you took money that doesn't belong to you, your story is complicated. Najib'd story is complicated.

    Posted 6 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply

  • Article 117 in the fund's company articles, stated the prime minister's written approval is requires for all its financial commitments, including investments and matters such as appointment of the board of directors. He had full control of 1MDB. The Attorney General's section of the report needs to be released and questions need to be asked in Parliament. If not, he has something to hide!

    Posted 6 years ago by Matt H · Reply

  • To his credit PM Najib always maintained there was no wrongdoing on his part. It would also help matters if all information on 1MDB was revealed to allay suspicion and conjecture..

    Posted 6 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

  • To his credit PM Najib always maintained there was no wrongdoing on his part. It would also help matters if all information on 1MDB was revealed to allay suspicion and conjecture. So much info on it has been bandied about..

    Posted 6 years ago by MELVILLE JAYATHISSA · Reply

  • Only he can save the entire ship by telling the truth.

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply

  • What really makes this work is that the rural folks, cannot understand such shamelessness..They do not get it, such shamelessness is just failure.

    Posted 6 years ago by Bigjoe Lam · Reply

  • Najib is right, he did not steal from 1MDB. He only cheated 1MDB. 1MDB board made payment to Good Star a sum of USD 700 million as joint venture capital with PetroSaudi, assuming/believing or pretending that Good Star was a subsidiary of IPIC. (Have 1MDB a written request from PetroSaudi that the payment should be made to its subsidiary?)The Chairman of the 1MDB board Mohd Bakke Salleh resigned saying that the staff did not follow board decision in making the payment. So the 1MDB board decision was superseded by Najib in having the money paid to Good Star which was not what Mohd Bakke wanted. It turned out that Good Star was owned by Jho Low as confirmed by Bank Negara. So Najib had 1MDB make payment of USD 700 million into a company solely owned by Jho Low. Did Najib give Jho Low a gift. Even if it was, Najib has cheated 1MDB. There was also other payments made to company owned by Jho Low in Switzerland. According to DOJ of USA, USD 4.5 billion had been diverted from 1MDB. These were money sent directly from 1MDB funds, borrowed overseas. to company bank accounts controlled by Jho Low.

    Posted 6 years ago by Meng Kow Loh · Reply

  • Any housing developer in the country could manage TRX and Banda Malaysia better than 1MDB if they had been given the lands at the same term as 1MDB. 1 MDB has sold some land in Bandar Malaysia to repay loans and bonds raised overseas to make payment for joint venture with PetroSuadi, twice, once to bank accounts held by Jho Low, and another to honour the demand of London Commission of International Arbitration to make good its promise to pay IPIC for joint venture capital with PetroSaudi. It is safe to conclude that joint venture with PetroSaudi had only one business plan. The plan is to have 1MDB board believes that, and on paper shows that a joint venture with a foreign company exists, and that payment of capital for joint venture investments is legitimate. Cheating began when 1MDB sent money overseas to account controlled by Najib's agent instead of to the designated owner, the subsidiaries of IPIC. The trick is to get staff in IPIC to keep quiet about not having received the payment, and then sued 1MDB years later. IPIC gets payments in full plus interest. Najib's agent acted as Saudi donor, not only to the RM 2.6 billion credited to Najib's personal account in Malaysia, but USD 94 million to Reza Aziz, stepson of Najib, as Reza Aziz reported to IRS of USA. All told, 1MDB was set up to cheat.

    Posted 6 years ago by Meng Kow Loh · Reply