Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on October 24, 2018

PUTRAJAYA: Former defence minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should inform Tun Daim Zainuddin about his quest to find fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) in China to help resolve the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal, said Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said Daim, chairman of the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), is among those responsible for recovering 1MDB funds and assets, Bernama reported.

“I advise him (Hishammuddin) to meet Tun Daim. As a former cabinet minister, if he has any information that can assist in the investigations, I feel he knows who else should be met. I do not want to jump the gun,” he told reporters concerning Hishammuddin’s offer to find Jho Low.

On Monday, Hishammuddin said he had initiated efforts in his personal capacity to communicate with the Chinese leadership to track down and bring Jho Low back to Malaysia.

However, Deputy Primary Industries Minister Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said he did not see the necessity for Hishammuddin’s involvement, since the relationship between the two governments is fine.

“I am surprised. It should have been raised earlier. But I believe the government, through the relevant ministry, will definitely study the rationale behind [Hishammuddin’s] action,” said Shamsul at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Shamsul also pointed out several Umno leaders have been charged over graft and mismanagement, including those involving 1MDB funds.

“We do not want any perception that these actions have the intention of allowing the doers to escape from errors done during the previous administration,” he added.

Rembau member of parliament Khairy Jamaluddin said yesterday efforts to locate the fugitive businessman should not be a personal endeavour, but through a government-to-government cooperation.

Khairy said if Hishammuddin has information on Jho Low’s whereabouts, he should refer the matter to the federal government for further action.  

“That was an interesting statement by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin. But if he has information, I hope it would be given to the government because that is the best way to bring Jho Low back home for the investigations,” he told reporters.

On another matter, Khairy has endorsed Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, MCA’s sole representative in Parliament, to win MCA’s presidency in the party’s upcoming election this year.

“I have discussed with Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong, who I think is a candidate most likely to win. He is the only MCA member of parliament and is committed to the Barisan Nasional (BN),” he said.

“Whatever  weakness in BN, whether it is the weakness in MCA or Umno, we will overcome it together. But don’t talk about leaving the BN. As for me, I have referred to [Wee] Ka Siong, and he said ‘we will stay in BN’.”

MCA presidential candidate Gan Ping Sieu was quoted on Monday as saying he intends to immediately quit the BN, or seek the coalition’s dissolution if he is elected as the party’s president in the election.

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