The Sheer Irony of Najib's "Wild" Accusations - Come Out and Show Yourself !

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak should stop being a hypocrite when he asked to be judged on facts over the 1MDB scandal but blatantly blocks all attempts to obtain facts via parliamentary questions.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak wrote on his blog that he too wants answers "quickly" on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy but added that any action taken by Putrajaya must be based on facts and not mere allegations.

"Is the government supposed to base its actions and prosecutions on wild allegations and tabloid exposes? Now that would be silly," Najib said.

Yes, it would be silly indeed if the Government’s “actions and prosecutions” are based on “wild allegations and tabloid exposes”. However, what is more silly is the fact that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, who is also the Finance Minister, blocks all attempts to secure facts via the most proper channels.

In fact, there is no better and higher platform for facts to be obtained and revealed than the Parliament, and yet, most of the MPs attempts to secure answers to simple questions are met with a brick wall.

I had asked the Finance Minster on 9 Jun 2015 on:

"sebab Menteri enggan memberikan pecahan fi Goldman Sachs dan diskaun bon kepada pelabur untuk terbitan bon-bon bernilai US$3 bilion, US$1.75 bilion dan US$1.75 bilion untuk 1MDB Global Investment, 1MDB Energy dan 1MDB Energy (Langat) yang diminta pada sesi lalu"

The question refers to a question I had asked in the last sitting. However, because the Minister had refused to provide the details of the breakdown to my question, I had asked for the reason why he had refused to do so.

The reason I have asked for the above information was to obtain the necessary facts to evaluate if 1MDB has overpaid Goldman Sachs for the 3 bond issue exercises where the latter received more than 10% in “certain commissions, fees and expenses” which was abnormally high. However, 1MDB claimed that the above had included “discounts” to the bond investors and hence I had asked for the breakdown in the figures.

However, almost expectedly, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak once again demonstrated absolute contempt for the Parliament by refusing to answer give the requested breakdown or the reasons why the breakdown cannot be provided. Instead, he practically repeated the same answer as he did the last sitting.

"…rundingan dan penentuan hasil (yield) yang dibuat adalah mengikut proses standard pasaran di antara penerbit dan pelabur semasa rundingan bagi penjualan dan pembelian fixed income security. Goldman Sachs bertindak sebagai “principal” dan bukan dalam kapasiti agensi bagi transaksi ini.

Keseluruhan hasil yang diperolehi oleh Goldman Sachs daripada harga terbitan bon, fi dan kupon adalah berpatutan dengan saiz terbitan, tempoh, ketidakcairan (liquidity) dan risiko kredit (credit risk).

The only difference was this time, he said the answer is based on answers provided by the 1MDB management (“berdasarkan maklumat yang dikemukakan oleh pihak pengurusan 1MDB”).

Instead of providing the impartial facts for the public to judge, the Minister of Finance asked 1MDB to give their own evaluation as to whether the fees they paid were fair (berpatutan). Dato’ Seri Najib Razak may as well have asked a murder suspect to judge himself in the court of law whether the latter is guilty.

Hence Malaysians have no choice but to judge the Prime Minister as a big hypocrite who pretends that he wants to judged on facts but at the same time denies these same facts to the public. Given such unforthcoming, shifty, secretive and dodgy behaviour, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak cannot blame anyone but himself for Malaysians presuming him guilty of wrongdoings over the massive RM42 billion 1MDB scandal.

Tony Pua