This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on June 26, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Tony Pua, who is special assistant to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, has called on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to explain where the RM3.07 billion siphoned from TRX City Sdn Bhd (TRXC) has gone to, if not to repay 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s (1MDB) debts.

“Datuk Seri Najib Razak must decide between claiming it is ‘inappropriate’ for him to answer 1MDB questions or constantly attempting to defend the dodgy transactions which have taken place at 1MDB,” the Pakatan Harapan lawmaker said in a statement yesterday.

Pua said Najib, who is also the former chairman of 1MDB’s advisory board, cannot simultaneously feign ignorance by blaming 1MDB’s directors or management  for the state fund’s troubles, while demonstrating detailed knowledge of transactions that took place at the fund.

He was referring to Najib’s claim via a Facebook post last Thursday that no money from TRXC was misappropriated by 1MDB, and that the RM3.07 billion from TRXC was inter-company loans that had been repaid by 1MDB via a combination of cash and a set-off against dividends paid by TRXC to 1MDB.

“What Najib explained was merely how 1MDB and TRXC justified and ratified the accounting irregularities between the two companies,” Pua said.

Pua also slammed Najib for denying that the recent RM2.8 billion extension by the ministry of finance (MoF) to TRXC was not a “bailout” because the 70-acre (28.33ha) Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) project could still “eke out a profit” upon completion.

“The fact that the TRX might still be able to eke out a profit does not invalidate the fact that it is a bailout. This is because if not for the misappropriation, it would have meant that the TRX could have made an additional RM3 billion in profits!

“Had the funds in TRXC been utilised for its projects in a transparent and accountable manner, the company would not have needed to seek the RM2.8 billion additional funding from the MoF for the  TRX in the first place. It is precisely because of the misappropriation by 1MDB that the ministry is now forced to step in to rescue the project,” Pua said.  Pua said the heart of the matter remains that over RM3 billion was taken by 1MDB from TRXC “to cover up the shenanigans” at 1MDB, after which TRXC became severely short of funds to fulfil its obligations to the TRX.

“If Datuk Seri Najib Razak feels strongly that he has been maligned with wrongful facts, we will be more than happy to welcome him back to the MoF to explain where the RM3 billion misappropriated from TRXC has gone to, and if there’s any chance at all how 1MDB will be able to recover this money,” Pua added.