DAP's Lim Kit Siang calls for the Auditor-General to released his interim findings of the probe into the prime minister and 1MDB. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, July 14, 2015.
The Auditor-General's (A-G) preliminary report should be released to parliamentarians and the public if it had cleared Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the controversial 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) of any wrongdoing, the DAP said today.
Its parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang said that Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah was being "dishonest and dishonourable" by claiming the prime minister's innocence from allegations of corruption, when the report is not released to the public.
"If Husni is so sure that the A-G’s preliminary report cleared Najib about the US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) deposited into his personal bank accounts, he should ask the Cabinet tomorrow to release the report to the public.
"At least the 30 million Malaysians can heave a big sigh of relief that the prime minister is free from the allegation, at least one allegation less from the mountain of allegations of misconduct and impropriety dogging Najib’s every step," Lim said in a statement today.
He questioned how Husni had drawn the conclusion that Najib was innocent of the allegations which first surfaced in a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on July 2, when the A-G had concluded his investigations into 1MDB at the end of June.
"It must, however, be news to everyone that the A-G’s terms of reference include probing into the WSJ report and allegation that Malaysian government investigators have found the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts at AmBank in March 2013, shortly before the 13th general election.
"But this cannot be true, as the WSJ report came out on July 2, after the A-G completed the preliminary report on 1MDB at the end of June for submission to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee," the Gelang Patah MP said.
The WSJ and UK-based website Sarawak Report made the revelation that up to RM2.67 billion was allegedly transferred to two bank accounts under Najib's name with AmBank in 2013.
Najib has since denied taking 1MDB funds for “personal use” but has not commented directly on the transfer of the money into his accounts. He instead blamed former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for masterminding the latest allegations.
However, opposition politicians have taken Najib to task over his "ambiguous denial", while the WSJ is standing by its story, saying its report was based on solid documentation proof.
A special task force looking into the allegations confirmed that Najib had accounts at AmBank, but the two accounts had been closed before the WSJ broke the story.
The high-profile members of the task force are Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.
Lim said today that the A-G Tan Sri Ambrin Buang had previously clarified that the audit department will not be investigating WSJ's claims as the special task force was better equipped for the task.
"Can Husni explain how the A-G’s interim report could clear Najib of the WSJ allegations when firstly, the allegations were made after completion of the preliminary report; and secondly, when the A-G never investigated into this subject?" he added.
"This is not the only mystery of this 1MDB scandal, with the prime minister presiding over the pile of investigators although he is in the capacity of the 'accused' – with everybody under him investigating everybody so much so that nobody really knows who is investigating what!"
Najib, he said, cannot continue to run but must make a clear stand in clearing his name by opening his books to investigators, but not the special task force which had no credibility,
"Najib must take a stand to clear his name by opening his books to investigators – not to the ridiculous 'special task force', which has no credibility whatsoever, but to a Royal Commission of Inquiry," he said.
"It is almost two weeks since the WSJ allegation about RM2.67 billion deposited into Najib’s personal accounts and what really stands out is the prime minister’s inability to come out with an outright denial of the allegation, which naturally leads to the question where the RM2.67 billion came from and where they had gone to."
- TMI
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