Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (March 16): Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said everything that has been made public about 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is only half the story and that the full picture is needed before any charges are pressed here.

In response to a question from the audience on the lack of effort by local authorities in investigating 1MDB following Singapore's recent charging of several bankers who are related to the controversial strategic investment fund, Johari said the full picture of what transpired is needed before any charges can be pressed on any party.

"Even the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) and AG (Attorney-General) were unable to specifically tell what went wrong. The transfer of the money to the accounts and so on, it's not that. That's only half the story. If you want to charge people, you need the complete story," said Johari at a luncheon talk today.

He said the actions taken by Singapore against several bankers that were involved with 1MDB was due to governance offences, which had happened in Singapore and not in Malaysia.

"The governance issue happened in Singapore, not in Malaysia. And those characters are actually Singaporeans. These people were charged for not knowing their client. How can you receive money without knowing your client? Singapore realised that they had to charge these people because if they don't, it will be damaging to the financial institutions in Singapore," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the ongoing investigations by the various authorities must be completed first as Malaysia is relying on the evidence before further any actions are taken.

Johari also pointed out that there is arbitration with IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company), and that any action taken during the ongoing arbitration would weaken Malaysia's position.

"Of course if you talk about emotion and all that, we want to take action. But at the end of the day, the government doesn't run on emotional strategies. We need to be really sure on what we want to do," he said.

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