KOTA KINABALU, Oct 14 — Calling for a thorough police investigation on the revelations made by the Pandora Papers expose, Pakatan Harapan Youth said Malaysian leaders named in it should also willingly step forward and offer to clear their name.
Its chief Howard Lee said that they were making a police report because the expose painted the country in a severely bad light and a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be set up to investigate the matter.
“An expose of this magnitude, involving RM1.8 trillion taken outside of our shores which could benefit the economic wellbeing of the country needs to be cleared up.
“There are important figures involved — the minister of finance, former deputy prime minister, it is unacceptable and humiliating for us as a nation and the establishment and those in power should help clear the name of the country,” he said.
He said that to add insult to injury, the European Union for the first time has placed Malaysia on its grey list as a Non-Cooperative Nations’ for tax evasion this October 7, meaning that the country is involved in tax fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and hiding illicitly gotten gains.
“To hear of such news of excess wealth and personal gain during a time when the people are struggling for their lives and livelihood is heartbreaking.
“We implore the authorities to expedite investigations into the matter and prove that it is not as it seems,” said Lee.
He said that the minister of finance, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had stated that he was willing to be investigated and urged others like deputy finance minister II Yamani Hafez Musa and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to follow suit.
“They should want to have their names cleared too,” he said, adding that the matter should also be debated in the House of Parliament.
Sabah DAP Youth executive secretary Chan Loong Wei said that the state should also take the matter seriously as it involves the family of a former chief minister, Tan Sri Musa Aman whose son Yamani was implicated in the papers and the similar Panama Papers leak previously.
Earlier, Chan represented the group in lodging the police report urging police to investigate the matter.
On October 3, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released the Pandora Papers, a hoard of data — reportedly involving some 11.9 million documents and 2.9 terabytes of data — used to expose supposedly corrupt dealings of the global elite.
Prominent Malaysians were also named in the document leak, including Tun Daim Zainuddin.
