This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 25, 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Tony Pua has called on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and the ministry of finance (MoF) to be truthful about the source of the payments made by 1MDB.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday, the member of parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara and DAP national publicity secretary said three 1MDB-related questions which he raised in the Dewan Rakyat were rejected and that the basis of snubbing the questions “remained completely untenable”. He had requested for the finance minister to state whether 1MDB paid the sum of about US$600 million (RM2.54 billion) to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) in August this year via the monetisation of 1MDB-owned investment fund units, and if the MoF helped support these payments either directly or indirectly.

“However, I received a rejection letter from the Speaker claiming that the question could not be answered presumably because it would be sub judice as ‘the matter is in court’. But the above payment which is part of an agreed settlement with IPIC has nothing to do with any court, whether in Malaysia or anywhere around the world,” Pua said.

“I didn’t even ask about the ‘settlement’ itself. I merely asked if the MoF helped 1MDB, directly or indirectly, with the US$600 million payment to IPIC which was made in the month of August. Hence, how is this in any way related to any court case?” he added.

Pua further lambasted the Speaker, saying “the Speaker has gone bonkers in his overzealousness to cover up the 1MDB mega scandal”. “We very much regret that the purportedly independent Speaker’s Office is now helping 1MDB and the MoF cover up questions on the scandal,” he lamented.

Pua also questioned the “rationalisation programme”, from which proceeds, 1MDB said in a statement on Aug 11, were used by 1MDB to pay IPIC. “The Speaker should be reminded that in April this year, it was 1MDB itself who claimed that its payment obligations would be funded by the monetisation of investment ‘units’. In August, 1MDB changed their tune and said that the payments were funded through the ‘proceeds of the ongoing rationalisation programme’. What exactly is this rationalisation programme?” he asked.

“Is it not ridiculous that 1MDB can make all sorts of conflicting and vague statements to the public but members of parliament have no recourse to obtain any clarification or confirmation from the ministers?”

Pua said both 1MDB and the MoF need to “come clean” about the source of these payments, and that the refusal to respond has “only confirmed the suspicions that the MoF had indeed conducted an emergency RM2.5 billion bailout of 1MDB in August this year”.