KUALA LUMPUR (June 16): Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should renounce any political comeback to save the country from any global embarrassment, said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.
In a statement on Thursday (June 16), the MP for Iskandar Puteri said this in the wake of the court testimony of a former Ministry of Finance (MoF) official that Malaysia still owes US$3 billion (RM13.3 billion) in debt as a result of a joint venture (JV) between 1MDB and Aabar Investments.
On Wednesday, ex-MoF deputy secretary-general Datuk Siti Zauyah Md Desa testified that the Malaysian government has to bear the repayment of 1MDB's debt under the US$3 billion bond issue because 1MDB failed to repay its debt, which was undertaken to finance the development of the estimated RM40 billion Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) property project along Jalan Tun Razak here.
Kit Siang also highlighted the statement by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki that the total assets forfeited and returned to the Malaysian government last year were worth about RM5.1 billion, with 99.57% of it linked to 1MDB.
The DAP elder also lamented that Putrajaya appeared to have forfeited its constitutional role to lead a campaign against corruption in Malaysia, with constitutional monarchs assuming the role, such as the recent calls by Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Nazrin Shah and Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor.