KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should use Parliament as the platform to once and for all address lingering questions over 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

Instead of resorting to external avenues such as the “Nothing to Hide” forum that was controversially cancelled an hour before it was schedule to start yesterday, the Gelang Patah MP said the PM should open up the Dewan Rakyat floor to lawmakers seeking clarification over 1MDB.

Lim said this was now imperative after Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah confirmed on public television that Najib was the final arbiter of the indebted state-owned firm’s deals as stated in its memorandum and articles of association.

“Najib must ‘tell all’ in Parliament about his personal responsibility for 1MDB ballooning to become the country’s biggest financial scandal,” Lim said in a statement today.

“Najib cannot delegate his responsibility to account to Parliament and the nation why 1MDB has ballooned to become a RM42 billion scandal in six years to Husni as it is Najib and not Husni who is the final approving authority for 1MDB.”

The forum yesterday had been expected to become a face-off between Najib and his chief critic, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, before it was cancelled unexpectedly.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar ordered the event to be called to preserve “public order”, and the Prime Minister’s Office later attributed Najib’s absence at the forum to the police’s advice and instruction over security concerns.

Although Dr Mahathir had appeared at the same event, police stopped him from continuing his speech on the 1MDB scandal to the audience.

Today, Lim said the claim that the cancellation was prompted by concerns over public security were  dubious, asserting that it was done to preserve the PM’s “political security.”

Critics have condemned the police for disrupting and cancelling the event, saying that the authorities were aiming to silence public discussions on government scandals and literally save Najib from a humiliating confrontation with Dr Mahathir over the 1MDB issue.

Organiser SukaGuam said the police ordered the event cancelled due to the group’s inability to handle the large number of attendees, while the IGP also denied that the cancellation was politically motivated.

The IGP said police had received late information that “two antagonistic camps” were planning to cause trouble, adding that the threat was serious enough to merit the cancellation.

1MDB was incorporated in 2009, after Najib announced the decision to turn the Terengganu Investment Authority state fund into a federal agency.

Since then, 1MDB has been dogged by negative publicity over its finances and debt, and most recently cash flow problems that saw it struggle to meet a RM2 billion loan payment.

The firm is now under investigation by at least three federal agencies.