KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told PKR leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today that it was Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had instructed him to expose financial scandals.
Lim also said he did not have the power to instruct other ministers to publicise financial scandals that had occurred below the purview of the Finance Ministry.
“It has already been explained to Datuk Seri Anwar that the exposure of all the financial scandals related to 1MDB [1Malaysia Development Berhad] and other scandals in the media were done on orders of the prime minister. He understands this,” Lim said in a statement.
Lim said Anwar was shocked at the negative impact from the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration’s alleged financial misappropriations, including by allegedly falsifying or hiding financial statements and classifying some financial statements as red files that could not be accessed by the auditor-general.
“The people have the right to know the country’s real economic and financial situation, as they do not want the government to keep on hiding information.
“Datuk Seri Anwar also agrees with this, and my ministry will continue to bring to light all financial scandals within 100 days as ordered by the prime minister,” Lim said.
Anwar reportedly advised Lim to be mindful of his public remarks as these could move markets now that the latter was finance minister.
