Dato' Sri Azalina Othman must clarify contradictions between her statement and MACC's on the Prime Minister receiving money from SRC International

I  had  asked  in  Parliament  last  week  whether  the  Attorney-General  has  investigated  the RM27 million  deposited  into  the  Prime  Minister’s  personal  bank  account  on  8  July  2014, which originated from SRC International.  In addition, RM3.2 million of the sum was used to repay Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s Visa and Mastercard bills. Was this not a criminal breach of trust?

 ...sama ada Peguam Negara telah menyiasat deposit RM27 juta ke dalam akaun bank Menteri        Kewangan  pada  8  Julai  2014  yang  berpunca  daripada SRC  International, yang antaranya  RM3.2 juta digunakan untuk membayar bil kad kreditnya. Adakah ini merupakan kesalahan pecah  amanah? 

The  response from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department,  Dato’ Sri Azalina Othman is shocking both in the lack of and discrepancy in the details.

"MACC's investigations on SRC International show that the prime minister has not committed any corrupt practice," she said in a written reply to me.

Firstly,  how  could  it  be  that  RM27  million  which  found  its way  to  Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s personal  bank  account,  which  was  exposed  by  none  other  than  the  Attorney-General himself, be  dismissed  summarily  without  any  basis  that there  was  no  criminal  breach  of trust?

What  is  more,  the  Attorney-General,  Tan  Sri  Apandi  Ali’s  evidence  which  he  showed  to reporters  during  his  press  conference  in  January  showed  how  RM3.2  million  of  the  money was channelled to pay the Prime Minister’s credit card bills.

Unless the Prime Minister or the Attorney-General can give impossibly good reasons why the transfers  took  place,  there  is  a  clear-cut  prima  facie case  to  charge  the  Dato’  Seri  Najib Razak for criminal breach of trust.

Secondly,   Dato’    Azalina’s    assertion    that    Malaysian    Anti-Corruption    Commission’s investigations  on  the  matter  showed  no “corrupt  practice”  is  completely  contrary  to  the statement issued by the MACC Oversight Panel issued on 24 February 2016.

“The panel agreed that MACC resubmit its investigation papers regarding SRC International to  the  Attorney-General  for  review...  Since  MACC’s  investigation  into  the  alleged  RM2.6 billion donation case is still incomplete, the panel recommended to MACC that it continue its investigation  into  the  case  and  seek  the  Attorney-General’s assistance  to  issue  the  Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) in order for MACC to obtain evidence and documents from financial institutions based overseas as part of its investigation into the RM2.6 billion,” the statement read.

The  MACC  Oversight  Panel  statement  could  only  mean  that the  investigation  is  still “incomplete”  and  MACC  was  seeking  the  assistance  of  the  Attorney-General  to  obtain overseas MLA to access additional evidence.

Dato’  Sri  Azalina Othman  must  clarify  why  her  statement  contradicted  that  of  the  MACC’s. Has she misled  the  parliament in  her  reply in  order  to exonerate  her  direct  superior,  Dato’Seri Najib Razak.

If she fails to provide clarifications and evidence that MACC has indeed “cleared” the Prime Minister of all crimes, that we will consider referring the Minister to the House Committee of Rights and Privileges for intentionally misleading the Parliament.