Shocking: the Malaysian Police limits 1MDB investigations to Public Accounts Committee (PAC) “recommendations” under Cabinet instructions

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar disclosed yesterday that the police have completed the first phase of their investigation into 1MDB, which is restricted to the five recommendations by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as ordered by the cabinet.

"I have said it before: the five recommendations from the PAC are our focus, so I do not want the police to be distracted from what was ordered for us to do, or else the focus of the investigation will deviate," he said.

First, how can the Cabinet give specific instructions to the Royal Malaysian Police on what crimes to investigate and what crimes not to investigate?  Isn’t this tantamount to a clear cut case of obstruction of justice?

Secondly, how can the IGP limit police investigations to merely the 5 “recommendations” by the PAC?

Members of the PAC, especially those from Barisan Nasional will often insist in PAC meetings that the PAC is not a criminal investigation body and such investigations should be left to the relevant authorities, including the Police.  Now, the Police has apparently be instructed to limit its investigations to the “recommendations” of the PAC, which was not based on a “criminal” investigation in the first place.

In fact, the Police should take cognizance that 1MDB has failed, despite repeated requests by both the PAC and the Auditor-General, to hand over its crucial overseas bank statements and verification documents.  As a result, the PAC is unable to investigate the existence of wrongdoings in the state-owned investment company.

For example, the PAC could not verify the ownership of Good Star Limited which received US$1.03 billion from 1MDB as 1MDB could not provide any conclusive ownership documentation to the PAC.  Furthermore, the PAC Chairman hid a Bank Negara Malaysia letter to the Committee which had disclosed that Good Star Limited was owned by none other than Low Taek Jho, or better known as Jho Low.

However, the expose by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on the multi-billion dollar embezzlement of 1MDB’s funds overseas should prompt the Police to obtain all relevant documents to ensure an unhindered and thorough criminal probe on the matter.

Hence Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar must explain to the Rakyat as to why he has refused to investigate the multi-billion dollar 1MDB embezzlement scandal which has taken the world by storm, by restricting itself to the limited findings of the PAC, purportedly under the instructions of the Cabinet?

Isn’t the Police supposed to investigate without fear or favour, even if it were to involve the highest officials of the land?  Doesn’t Tan Sri Khalid realise that there is a severe conflict of interest in the purported Cabinet instruction to restrict the Police investigations because Cabinet members might be involved in the laundered funds?

For example, the DOJ has already cited that a “Malaysian Official 1”, whom even the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Rahman Dahlan admitted is Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, has received US$731 million of the laundered funds in his personal bank account in Malaysia.  Who else has benefitted from these funds?

The failure of the IGP to conduct a no-stones-unturned investigations into the “world’s largest financial scandal” which has brought shame to Malaysia only serves to confirm the suspicions of ordinary Malaysians that Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar is colluding with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to cover up the heinous scam which has defrauded the people of tens of billions of ringgit.