PUTRAJAYA, June 27 — DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng questioned the logic of an Opposition party’s call for some Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders to pay back 1MDB funds, saying these never entered their bank accounts in the first place.
He described Gerakan’s demand for him to ask Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir and Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, among others, to do as nonsensical.
“Where is this coming from? How to answer such a question?” Lim told reporters following the 2020 Budget Consultation Session at the ministry’s complex.
He said neither men ever took 1MDB funds in their bank accounts even when they had still been with Umno.
Lim, who is also finance minister, then pointed out that Gerakan did not ask the same of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is on trial over dozens of charges related to 1MDB funds.
“How about the money that entered Najib’s account? They never asked about that before, so why now this?” Lim said.
Yesterday, Gerakan president Dominic Lau pressed Lim to convince Mukhriz, Muhyiddin and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to ostensibly return the funds, after Lim did the same to the Penang Press Club.
Lau claimed that since Umno’s state liaison committees for Sabah, Johor, and Kedah were on the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) published list of 41 recipients of 1MDB money, Shafie, Muhyiddin and Mukhriz should also be questioned as they had still been with the party when the scandal first broke.
Today, Lim also said the list was still preliminary and that it is highly possible there will be more names revealed later on.
“There are other names which have yet to be fleshed out. So I do not want to say more than that.
“Let MACC handle the case. Just because a name is not on the list, it does not mean that is the case,” he said.
Lim was responding to PAS Youth chief Khairul Nizam Khirudin’s demands last Saturday during the party’s Muktamar (annual congress) for an apology to his party after he noted that PAS and related entities were not included.
