Parliament should hold public hearings to determine how 1MDB scandal was kept hidden, says Kit Siang

Wednesday 24 Apr 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (July 28): DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said Parliament should hold public hearings to determine how the 13th Parliament was prevented from exposing the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) financial scandal, and to ensure that Parliament will never be abused again to cover up financial scandals.

In a statement on Thursday (July 28), the Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri said that on Wednesday, he gave a notice to ask Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob a ministerial question, asking for details of the settlement of the suit former attorney-general Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi had made against the government and former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for his dismissal as the attorney-general in May 2018, and whether it was proper for Apandi to act as the lawyer representing fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho or Jho Low over the 1MDB scandal.

He said this question was not accepted for the three ministerial questions slated for an answer on Thursday as it did not appear in the Order Paper.

“Although the question would not appear in Parliament today (Thursday), Apandi has a public responsibility as the former attorney-general to give answers,” he said.

Kit Siang said Apandi had sued the Government for wrongful dismissal, alleging that he was entitled to special damages of over RM2.23 million, including loss of remuneration totalling RM1,285,213.68 from July 27, 2018 to July 26, 2021 (or RM35,700.38 in monthly remuneration over 36 months or three years) as the attorney-general.

“Were Malaysian taxpayers paying for two attorney-generals from July 2018 to July 2021 — one in office and another out of office?

“It has been a week since the 100-page judgement of Justice Datuk Azimah Omar in Apandi’s defamation suit against me was made public last Thursday, and Apandi has failed to answer the four questions highlighted by Azimah's judgement in the defamation hearing.

“In fact, Apandi has failed to answer these questions for the last two months since the judgement was announced on May 23,” he said.

Kit Siang said Apandi showed no interest in finding out who was “Malaysian Official 1” (MO1), although the person was described in the US Department of Justice's litigation suit in July 2016 as “a high-ranking official in the Malaysian government who also held a position of authority with 1MDB”, nor was Apandi the least interested when then minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan admitted to the BBC in September 2016 that MO1 was former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“Did Apandi ever ask Najib whether he was MO1? Or did every knowledgeable Malaysian knew that MO1 was Najib except Apandi?

“But it is not only the attorney-general who must answer for his role in covering up the 1MDB scandal. The 13th Parliament was prevented from exposing the 1MDB scandal, and became a party to the 'cover-up' of the 'kleptocracy at its worst' scandal because of a very biased Speaker,” he said.

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