Nobody believes ‘cock-and-bull’ yarn of 1MDB duo

The people are equally unhappy with Najib Razak’s assurances that Arul Kanda and Shahrol will not run away from attending the PAC hearing.

KUALA LUMPUR: The proverbial cat is out of the bag following Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s statement in Japan that two 1MDB CEOs, “have something to sort out first”.

Najib was explaining why present CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy and first CEO Shahrol Halmi, skipped the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on Tuesday on the scandal-ridden 1MDB. “1MDB officials will appear before PAC. They will not run away.”

So, the reason for their absence was not “overseas assignments” as indicated in a Finance Ministry letter to PAC Chairman Nur Jazlan on the eve of the hearing. An explanation and apology would be in order, points out DAP elder statesman Lim Kit Siang in revisiting the growing controversy.

“Is Najib prepared to reveal and censure the Finance Ministry official who allowed Arul Kanda and Shahrol to play truant from Tuesday’s scheduled PAC hearing on the 1MDB scandal?”

Lim, who is also DAP Parliamentary Leader and Gelang Patah MP, was commenting on the fact that the public was not satisfied by the assurance given by Najib from Japan that Arul Kanda and Shahrol would both attend the PAC hearing on 1MDB once a date was fixed. “The assurance has failed to mollify the public outrage at the 1MDB duo’s impertinence and contempt of Parliament in playing truant from the hearing.”

It is an indication of the public’s weariness, skepticism and even disgust with the endless “smoke and mirrors” spectacles in the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal in the past four years, added Lim

Najib’s statement that “1MDB officials will appear before PAC, will not run away” was utterly meaningless and weightless, he argued. “The 1MDB duo dodged the scheduled PAC hearing with a cock-and-bull story about important assignments overseas.”

“None of them including the Finance Ministry could reveal which country Arul Kanda and Shahrol were in on Tuesday and what are these prior commitments which are more important than the PAC hearing.”

Did the Finance Ministry lie to the PAC that Arul Kanda and Shahrol had more important overseas assignments which made it impossible for them to attend the PAC hearing, asked Lim. “Najib also lied in his parliamentary answer about the USD1 billion deposit from Cayman Islands in a Singapore bank.”

“This appears to be the case, as the reason given by Najib in Japan for the absence of the 1MDB duo from the PAC hearing was not overseas assignments, but that the ‘1MDB officials have something to sort out first’.”

Having something to sort out first was clearly very different from the duo having overseas assignments and making it physically impossible for them to appear before the PAC, stressed Lim.

Furthermore, he said, Arul Kanda’s ability to respond immediately through press statements about issues raised about their dodging from the PAC hearing raises the question of whether he was really overseas.