Electoral reform coalition NGO Bersih 2.0 has expressed surprise at the exoneration of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak of criminal wrongdoing in what it said was 'the largest currency exchange scandal' in Malaysian history.
The NGO said Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali's announcement yesterday has created more questions than answers over the RM2.6 billion donation affair.
Apandi had yesterday announced that Najib had not committed any offence with regards to the RM2.6 billion donation and RM42 million from SRC International which were deposited into his personal bank accounts.
In its statement today, Bersih listed out nine outstanding questions that needed to be answered despite the AG's clearance of Najib of any offence. They were:
- If RM2.03 billion was returned to the Arab donor, where is the rest? Where has the money gone to and what has it been used for? Was the money used to 'buy' the 13th general election as alleged by The Wall Street Journal?
- Why was former attorney-general Gani Patail fired from his post if the RM2.03 billion has been returned and there was no criminal wrongdoing?
- Why is Najib not suing The Wall Street Journal which first made the allegations if he really did not misappropriate the RM2.6 billion which was deposited into his personal accounts?
- Why was former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin fired when he asked questions about the RM2.6 billion? Why was there a cabinet reshuffle and why were those who were vocal in raising questions over the matter removed? Is it very difficult to explain this transaction?
- Why did Najib take so long to explain the issue and why are many different explanations? From one donor, to more than one donor and now the AG said that RM2.03 billion was returned. Who is telling the truth?
- Why were Najib's personal banks account closed if there were no suspicious transactions?
- Where is the evidence of the return of the RM2.03 billion? Do we have to wait another year for it to show up?
- Najib reportedly returned the RM 2.03 billion to the Arab donor in 2013. But he received RM42 million circa 2014 and 2015. Najib reportedly said that he was not sure or unaware whether the RM42 million came from the initial RM2.6 billion donation. How could Bank Negara have missed such a large transaction?
- Was there ever a request to Bank Negara to send, re-send or receive the huge amounts of monies involved? Did such a massive movement of cash from a foreign source violate any foreign currency exchange laws?
Worry for PAC
Bersih said the nine questions should be answered by the PM soon and it also called on the MACC and the Bank Negara to come forward and reveal what the results of their investigations were.
The coalition also urged both parties to clarify if there were there any discrepancies in their findings as the AG represented them to be.
Expressing concern over the integrity of the attorney-general's chambers which it said it feared may have been compromised after the change of guard in July last year, Bersih said it hoped the Public Accounts Committee - the only authority still looking into 1MDB - won't suffer the same fate under Najib.
Bersih urged the PAC to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation so that the public would get the answers they deserve. This is in light of previous investigations which were stopped cold at the prosecution stage.
-MalaysiaKini-
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