Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 1): An Opposition lawmaker has questioned Putrajaya’s silence in not seeking the repatriation of RM400 million confiscated by the Swiss authorities as funds allegedly stolen from sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

In a statement Feb 28, MP for Petaling Jaya Utara and DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua questioned as to why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Malaysian government had not taken any action to approach the Swiss government to seek repatriation of the funds.

The Swiss media reported earlier in the week that the RM400 million in 1MDB-linked funds that had been seized by Swiss financial authorities last November may be absorbed by the Swiss government because no one had approached them to claim the funds.

“At the very least, has the Prime Minister attempted to seek clarification from the Swiss authorities to verify the authenticity of the findings that the RM400 millions were funds stolen from 1MDB?” he said.

Pua said the above questions were particularly pertinent given the on-going confiscation of assets deemed acquired with funds stolened or laundered from 1MDB.

He pointed out the news that the Indonesian authorities had just seized the US$260 million luxury yacht Equanimity purchased by Low Taek Jho, famously known as Jho Low, using funds allegedly siphoned out of 1MDB yesterday. 

“The yacht is among the assets amounting to USD1.7 billion that are being sought by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) through its Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative in relation to 1MDB.

“Are we going to let the United States keep the proceeds from the seizure of these assets worth nearly RM7 billion and not do anything about it?” said Pua.

He also questioned if Najib was embarrassed by the fact that so much money has allegedly been stolen and laundered from 1MDB that he does not dare to seek the repatriation of these funds.

“Did Dato’ Seri Najib ask his ‘good friend’ President Donald Trump that the funds be returned to 1MDB so that 1MDB can pay it’s RM40 billion of debt? 

“Or was the Prime Minister so generous as to pledge those funds, like he did on behalf of EPF and Khazanah to invest those money to “revive” the United States economy?” he said.

Pua stressed that “as Malaysians continue to suffer because of the GST and other policies aimed at increasing government revenue, surely we are not going to allow billions of Ringgit taken from us to just lie idle abroad.”

He said that that is money that could be used to build hospitals, schools and improve infrastructure.

“It is imperative for Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to respond to these questions. 

“The failure to do so means the BN Government is not interested in making any attempts to recover these billions of ringgit,”he said.

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