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By P Gunasegaram
Despite his cautious apology to all Malaysians for 1MDB without admission of any guilt, former PM Najib Razak still remains culpable for wrong-doing, fraud and theft of enormous proportions at 1MDB, involving losses of over RM40 billion.
Najib is now clutching at straws. He is relying on a desperate attempt to serve his sentence out of prison and in the comfort of his home through a move orchestrated by Umno and supported by top elements in the Madani government including the PM and the home minister under the still undefined concept of house arrest.
In his statement yesterday read out by his son, he has now latched on to a recent article in The Edge which says that Najib at that time did not know of a particular instance where money was stolen from 1MDB.
The statement said: “The Edge had reached a conclusion in their article that Petrosaudi and Jho Low had collaborated to deceive me, that I was not aware that Petrosaudi was siphoning 1MDB funds and that I did not knowingly receive any money from the funds sent by 1MDB to Petrosaudi.
“As hard as it is for some people to fathom, I was advised and honestly believe at the time that the funds I received were political donations from Saudi Arabia,” he said.
The Edge comment was written by its CEO and publisher Ho Kay Tat last month.
It said: “What is clear from the above (e-mail and other trails) is that up to this point, that is, end-2010, Najib Razak was unaware that the cash injected by 1MDB into the JV company 1MDB-PSI had been stolen by Jho Low and Tarek Obaid (Jho Low’s co-conspirator).
“Jho Low and Tarek collaborated to mislead and lie to Najib that 1MDB was making good investments when they knew the money had been lost. And up to this point, the money trail shows none went to Najib himself.
“But, clearly, at some stage after the end of 2010, Najib must have found out, at least part of the truth, if not the whole truth. When? We do not know.”
The fact is that Najib had plenty of time to find out. The funds of US$681 million came into his account only in 2013, ahead of the 13th general election. When news of that broke out, Najib stopped an investigation in its tracks, dismissing key investigators and transferring others.
The US Department of Justice report of 2016 showed that US$620 million was returned to the account of Tanore Finance from where the funds came from in the first place. Surely then Najib knew the source of the funds because he knew where to return it.
His assertion that they were political donations from Saudi Arabia is unbelievable and totally untenable. What would a reasonable person do if he found over RM2 billion in his account overnight?
First find out exactly who it came from. If it was a donation you would ask for what purpose it was and why to you. You would be suspicious why someone would give you all that money and would want to know how he expects you to use it.
As prime minister you would ask yourself if you are compromising the nation’s integrity and independence by taking this money. And you would have come to the conclusion that this is something that you simply can’t accept.
So far-fetched and illogical is Najib’s explanation that no reasonable and thinking person can accept it. There is much other evidence that points to Najib being more than just ignorant about the whole thing.
Under 1MDB’s memorandum and articles of association and because of government guarantees given for debt amounting to at least US$7 billion in loans there were severe conditions.
Any financial commitment and investments or any other matter likely to affect the guarantee of the company needed the written approval of the finance minister, then none other than Najib.
Nothing can happen at 1MDB without Najib knowing about it and approving it first. Jho Low had powers over 1MDB because and only because of Najib’s power over 1MDB. The evidence is overwhelming that Najib and Jho Low were the main co-conspirators in 1MDB.
Here are other things that require explanations that have not been forthcoming:
- Some RM1 billion in handbags, cash and other valuables held in safe houses in Kuala Lumpur
- Pending high profile cases against Najib and others, including RM6.6 billion for criminal breach of trust
Pending high-profile court cases against Najib, 4 others
- US$248 million suit against his stepson Riza Aziz. The money supposedly came from 1MDB theft
- Jewelry from Jho Low to Rosmah Mannsor worth over RM100 million
This is just a partial list. The Malaysian public must not let the wool be pulled over their eyes and allow the key person responsible for 1MDB to receive such benefits as a house arrest. He does not deserve it.
The only way to stamp out corruption in high places - the stated aim of PM Anwar Ibrahim - is to ensure that those who commit it spend time behind bars. To allow house arrest for these cases is to court disaster by setting a precedent which every corrupt politician will ask for when caught.
1MDB is the world’s biggest kleptocracy. To let one of the two main co-conspirators to lounge in his home instead of in jail and repent for his crime is not political expediency, it is injustice personified. Every corrupt politician will be encouraged by this act of highly misplaced generosity and compassion.
It may even be political suicide - for those responsible for this infamy.
(P Gunasegaram is shocked at the extent we go to provide comfort to the most corrupt)
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