(July 8): Cabinet members must resign if they fail to decide in their meeting today what action to take over The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) expose, says DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

He said today they must demand that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak disclose his role in the scandal, which involved state investment vehicle 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

He added that Najib must also explain government probe into 1MDB, and that he step down throughout the investigation.

He also said the cabinet must decide that the auditor-general's report on 1MDB, to be presented to the Public Accounts Committee tomorrow, be declassified and approve the formation of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into 1MDB.

"If the cabinet is unable to secure these decisions, then ministers, as honourable and patriotic Malaysians, have one final option left, which is to collectively resign," said Lim.

"(This is) to dissociate themselves from such irresponsible, opaque and unaccountable management of massive public funds and even more important, to set high standards of trust, integrity and good governance for all holders of public office for now and the future."

Lim said the weekly meeting today was the "last opportunity" for the ministers to prove whether they were true patriots or merely self-seeking politicians.

On the royal commission of inquiry, Lim said it must headed by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and the commissioners should include DAP’s Tony Pua and PKR’s Rafizi Ramli, said Lim.

He said the commission should submit its report and findings within three months, and that Najib should go on leave as prime minister during that period.

The WSJ revealed that up to US$700 million (RM2.67 billion) was transferred to Najib's personal bank accounts, just before the 13th general election.

Najib denied he had taken any funds from 1MDB for personal gain and pinned the blame for the WSJ report on former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In response to Najib’s threat of legal action against it, the WSJ yesterday posted documents online that allegedly detailed the money trail.

Also, a task force set up to investigate the claims revealed it had frozen six bank accounts in its probe so far and had also seized documents linked to 17 bank accounts at two banks for further investigation.

Although the statement issued by the task force did not name the banks involved, nor did it state if any of the accounts belong to the prime minister, sources told The Malaysian Insider that three out of six bank accounts frozen belonged to Najib. – The Malaysian Insider