(Aug 17): Datuk Seri Najib Razak "deliberately interfered" with the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) investigations, going by revelations from Barisan Nasional's (BN) communications director, PKR deputy president Mohamed Azmin Ali said today.

He said BN strategic communications director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan's interview in The Sunday Star yesterday showed Najib had resorted to the "drastic action" to "save his own skin".

"From Rahman’s account, the prime minister unleashed ‘a flurry of action’ in order to prevent himself from being prosecuted.

"We take it that this ‘flurry of action’ refers to the PM sacking Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and four ministers, replacing at lightning speed the attorney-general Tan Sri Gani Patail, disbanding the 1MDB task force and presumably ordering the IGP to unleash his own ‘flurry of action’ – raiding, arresting and transfer of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officers and interrogating Bank Negara personnel.

"What Rahman has said essentially means that the prime minister had deliberately interfered with an ongoing investigation that was being undertaken by the 1MDB special task force comprising the highest echelons of the nation’s law and regulatory agencies," Azmin said in a statement, adding, "To my mind, such an interference may amount to criminal acts both under the Penal Code and the MACC Act (Section 186 and Section 48 respectively)".

On Rahman’s suggestion that the special task force was probably the IGP’s own initiative and that it was “not authorised by the Cabinet”, Azmin said it appeared to be a desperate attempt at legitimising Najib’s “drastic action” to neutralise the investigations.

“Unless it was misreported by The Star, it also appears to be a subtle attempt at shifting the blame on the IGP. While I am no fan of the IGP, I believe that in this matter, he should be credited for initiating the task force instead of being made to look like he overstepped his jurisdiction.”

Rahman had told The Star that the task force was illegally constituted, and that the Attorney-General (A-G) could not be part of it because of a "conflict of interest".

Azmin, who is the Selangor menteri besar, said this was a wrong argument, noting that under trite law and conventional practice, "not only prosecution but ultimate supervision of investigation lies with the A-G, as provided under the Federal Constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code”.

“By being part of the multi-dimensional task force, the A-G’s role is to facilitate and give overall direction on the course of the investigations as well as to provide the necessary and prompt legal advice and direction,” he said, adding that the final sanction to prosecute a public servant, including the prime minister, must come from the A-G.

“And the A-G cannot give the sanction without full access and knowledge of the progress and state of investigations.”

He said Najib should resign with "whatever honour and dignity" he had left.

“Rahman should stop insulting the intelligence of the people by pretending that these transfers were perfectly above board and throwing red herrings about illegally constituted task force, blaming the IGP or asking what a person in Najib’s shoes should have done,” Azmin said.

The task force was announced soon after The Wall Street Journal reported that RM2.6 billion had been put into Najib's personal bank accounts.

Its disbandment followed a string of events which critics say showed Najib's attempt to cover up the 1MDB scandal, as well as the probe into the funds in his accounts which he said was a political donation.

Among these moves were changing the A-G in the midst of the probe, and a Cabinet reshuffle which ejected ministers critical of 1MDB. The reshuffle also resulted in the suspension of the Public Accounts Committee which was conducting its own hearings on 1MDB.

This was followed by the questioning of anti-graft officers for allegedly leaking official information on the 1MDB probe. – The Malaysian Insider