This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on February 4, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed he was unaware whether Parliament was informed about RM4 billion in loans from Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) to SRC International Sdn Bhd and two government guarantees approved by the Cabinet to back them.

During ad hoc prosecutor Datuk V Sithambaram’s cross-examination yesterday, Najib said he could not remember whether the second government guarantee for a subsequent RM2 billion loan from KWAP to SRC was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.

Last January, Sithambaram asked the former premier to check whether the Dewan Rakyat was informed about the second government guarantee. Najib said he would revert to the court.

Najib said he checked with his lawyers and could not find any verification whether the loans and guarantees were presented to Parliament, although he said it was the functionaries’ duty to ensure they were tabled.

He told the court that he assumed the guarantees were tabled, because they were approved.

Sithambaram: So, what you mean once [the approval] is done, you take it that it was laid [before Parliament]?

Najib: Yes, that has always been the case.

When Sithambaram suggested it is the minister’s responsibility to table it, Najib disagreed.

“We are unable to show handsard to confirm it is laid before the Dewan Rakyat. It is the staff’s duty to ensure it is done,” he said.

When asked whether the second government guarantee was not laid or tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, the former prime minister said he does not know.

However, he agreed with the ad hoc prosecutor that informing the Dewan Rakyat is for transparency.

According to the Loans Guarantee (Bodies Corporate) Act 1965 — authorising the government to guarantee loans raised by certain corporate bodies — any guarantee given under this section must be in writing and may be signed by a minister on behalf of the government.

The minister is then required by the act to present the statement of guarantee together with a copy of the loan agreement to the Dewan Rakyat as soon as possible. However, a clause in Subsection 4 mentions tabling in Parliament may be exempted if the guarantee or the agreement is certified by the minister to contain confidential matters.

Hence, the requirement to table in Parliament shall not apply to such a guarantee until and unless those matters cease to be confidential.