Attempts to portray the 1MDB issue as resolved via the settlement between 1MDB and International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) has backfired, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.
"The propaganda campaign committed the fatal sin of doing an 'overkill', like the claims by BN strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan, causing a boomerang as many basic questions about the 1MDB scandal remain unanswered," Lim said in a statement today.
He cited Rahman Dahlan saying that the settlement shows that 1MDB funds held in "units" in Singapore exists and will be entirely monetised to pay IPIC.
This remark has raised other questions, Lim said, such as those asked by his fellow opposition politicians.
He pointed out questions by DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, who had asked why Malaysians now have to pay IPIC more than double of what was borrowed by 1MDB, and another query by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Muhyiddin Yassin on who would be buying the 1MDB units, as examples.
Lim once again urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to convene a special parliament session to address the 1MDB issue and give detailed answers to all 1MDB-related questions.
In particular, he stressed that the government needs to address the US Department of Justice's 1MDB-related civil forfeiture suits which was initiated almost a year ago.
Meanwhile, Bersatu central committee member Abdul Kadir Jasin said the settlement is not a solution which truly benefits the country.
If it was, he said, politicians would jump on the bandwagon to share the good news.
"But when Finance Minister II Johari Abdul Ghani himself denied his involvement in the settlement, it is clear that this is not a convincing solution, nor will it benefit the country," Kadir said in a blog post today.
Umno's propaganda machine may fool rural folks, he said, but they cannot fool someone like Johari.
Kadir insisted the 1MDB issue is far from resolved, pointing out that the Public Account Committee (PAC) had placed 1MDB's debts at RM50 billion as of January 2016.
"The government may say that 1MDB's debts to the bank has been resolved. Maybe this is true.
"But it is not because 1MDB has a lot of money, but it is because its debts and liabilities have been taken over by the government.
"When it becomes the country's debts, the people and taxpayers are the ones who have the bear the costs. It is us and our children and grandchildren who have to pay," he said.
The 1MDB-IPIC settlement, announced on April 24, would, among others, see 1MDB pay IPIC US$1.2 billion by the end of the year.
1MDB had said that it would do so by monetising its investments, and has already received the first tranche of US$50 million in cash.
It did not specify which investments are being monetised, but 1MDB has US$940 million worth of investment "units" owned by its subsidiary Brazen Sky Ltd.
Bloomberg last week reported 1MDB will monetise its Brazen Sky and 1MDB Global Investment units worth US$2.5 billion.- Mkini
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