The action of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in issuing a statement to the New York Times is “regrettable”, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman.
Anifah, who issued an open letter to the New York Times on Thursday night, said:
“It is irresponsible of any citizen, let alone a former prime minister, to spread lies and distortions about state owned companies – saying for example that RM42 bn is missing from 1MDB to create public anxiety, when in fact these are audited debts backed by RM51 bn assets. These reckless claims have affected market sentiment towards Malaysia.
Furthermore, it is telling that he continues to mount his attacks, rather than wait for the findings of the enquiries currently being undertaken by Malaysia’s central bank, Auditor General, and parliament’s bipartisan Public Accounts Committee. This shows that Tun Mahathir is not interested in answers from the appropriate lawful authorities. Rather, he is just using 1MDB as an excuse to topple the serving prime minister, Najib Tun Razak.”
Anifah is the brother of Musa Aman who has faced almost identical revelations as Chief Minister of Sabah over the pilfering of public money.
Musa’s bag carrier and nominee Michael Chia was even picked up in Hong Kong clutching a suitcase crammed with millions of dollars.
Sarawak Report has provided the evidence in black and white, showing how Chia passed money from multi-million dollar accounts to members of Musa’s family on several occasions.
MACC investigators have produced a report detailing how these millions, which can be traced to timber kickbacks, were eventually channelled via layers of off-shore companies into a Zurich bank account belonging to Musa.
Anifah himself has been linked to these timber concessions doled out by Musa.
Yet both men remain in power, years after these investigations were laid on the Attorney General’s desk, a man who also happens to be their relative.
So, no wonder Anifah is demanding that Malaysians “wait for the finding of enquiries”. It’s the tried and tested recipe for inaction by BN.