26 Apr 2024, 05:26 Kuching
25 Apr 2024, 22:26 London
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) should at least have the courtesy to contact 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to listen to their side of the story rather than only based its reports on the online news website (Sarawak Report), said Barisan Nasional (BN) strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan today.
Describing it as unbecoming for United States Attorney-General Loretta Lynch to use such a strong language in a situation when she was unsure whether there was a case or not, he said ‘a charge had not been decided’ giving a prejudice view against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Malaysian government and 1MDB. “When we read the 136-page document, we find that it was based on the Sarawak Report which has a heavy political agenda against the government, BN and prime minister.
So, our concern is why the DOJ of the US (United States) did not call 1MDB to verify. At least get the otherside of the story. “That is the only question. Why you go to the court and tell the whole world of your story when it is not completed,” he said after attending the Economic Planning Unit’s (EPU) Hari Raya open house here. The DOJ had recently filed civil lawsuits to seize assets acquired with money allegedly misappropriated from 1MDB, the government investment fund.
Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman, who is the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department responsible for the EPU, said the prime minister had repeatedly emphasised that he was not involved and that public funds were not involved. “What happens now is an allegation. Several individuals have been alleged to have taken or stolen 1MDB funds. It is an allegation by the DOJ,” he said, adding that the DOJ was taking the opportunity to hit the country, government, prime minister by using very rude language.
On the group linking Najib to the DOJ allegation, Abdul Rahman said if the DOJ had any proof to drag the prime minister, then his name would be stated in the DOJ document. “Try and show where (Datuk Seri) Najib’s name had appeared…whereas several other names had been stated in the document,” he said.
Sarawak Report would like to thank the UMNO communications chief for his flattering suggestion that the United States Department of Justice hangs unquestioningly onto our every word.
It is a valuable admission from the heart of a government that has blocked our website and issued an arrest warrant for the Editor, for “spreading false rumours”, that everything we have written on 1MDB is entirely true and vindicated by the investigations of the US authorities.
However, our vanity is checked by common sense. The mighty United States Department of Justice, together with its partners in the FBI, who manage the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, together with their ranks of top lawyers and investigators, are not in the business of being made fools of and their resources are unparalleled. They will have been particularly careful in such a case where they have been forced to embarrass the leader of a friendly nation and several of the world’s top banks, including their own.
They have spent a year looking quietly into the whole matter without breathing a single word in public, whilst other prosecutors in countries like Switzerland and Singapore led the way in also making plain that Malaysian Official 1 had been up to the business of kleptocracy on a simply massive scale.
But, when the Americans moved they did it in massive force and they made no bones about it. No one was left in any doubt as to who Malaysian Official 1 is and what he has been up to – he should be wary of claiming he has not been named else somebody equally believable may feel forced to clarify further.
And of course the DOJ did not rely on Sarawak Report in order to arrive at their conclusions. Since the PM chose to filtch the money in dollars the details of each and every transaction had passed through the United States bank clearing system, as required of all dollar transfers. The computa data was therefore available at the fingertips of the US regulators to check immediately on request – it is one of the money-laundering provisions put in place by the US banking system.
Did Najib and Wharton Business School graduate Jho Low not know this crucial fact when they set out on their money laundering spree? Or do they and Mr Dhalan just think that the ‘stupid kampung folk’ won’t understand why it was so easy for the DOJ to provide in searing detail the step by step evidence of every single transfer, down to the last digit and actual second it took place?
To claim that the DOJ provided no evidence in a 136 page report that was packed with such relentless and thorough evidence is again laughable and sad. Dhalan is trading on his assumption that Malay-speaking ‘simple folk’ will not be able to read it for themselves and that an UMNO controlled media will drown it with his message.
But, Malaysians are not fools and they are getting the message anyway. They have experienced these UMNO folk and their dodgy media outlets for long enough. And when the rest of the world says one thing and a bunch of known thieves says another, it is easy enough to judge the truth.
The fact is that it is UMNO who have brought zero evidence to substantiate their silly stories of Saudi Royal donations, received and then returned. It is 1MDB which has been firing global accountancy firms one after the other and refusing to reveal its books. And it is 1MDB which has lost billions of dollars and can’t account for their disappearance…. whereas the United States DOJ has shown exactly how the money went, step by step, from 1MDB loan issues into Najib’s account – and those of his step-son and accomplices.
It really is most embarrassing and sad. Malaysians deserve a better leadership than a bunch of thieves, who have been so publicly brought to book and UMNO should sort the matter out and replace their leader and key cronies like Dhalan immediately or admit that the entire party is no longer fit to govern.
Your views are valuable to us, but Sarawak Report kindly requests that comments be deposited in suitable language and do not support racism or violence or we will be forced to withdraw them from the site.