AUG 6 — The month-long controversy over the RM2.7 billion purportedly banked into the personal accounts of PM Najib has seen same dramatic change overnight.
As several MACC officers are being hauled up for questioning over leaked information, out of the blue the amount banked into the PM’s accounts is now said to be not from 1MDB but contribution by a donor or donors.
1MDB CEO Arul Kanda gleefully issued a statement to thank MACC for clearing the company’s name.
The MACC verdict nevertheless fails to clear the name of PM Najib, but has instead brought out more question marks and doubts.
1. The MACC statement only proves one thing, that the WSJ claim of US$700 million in Najib’s accounts is indeed true.
How much is US$700 million? Given today’s exchange rate of RM3.88 to the dollar, it is about RM2.7 billion!
This amount of money is more than enough to build three elevated interchanges along North-South Expressway, or upgrade Selangor’s water supply infrastructure to benefit millions of residents in the state.
In other words, this amount is enormous. Now the question, who has been so generous as to bank in this astronomical sum of money directly into Najib’s accounts? What are their motives?
This is something every Malaysian very much likes to find out, but MACC has shied away from specifying the identity of the donor or donors; nor has it explained how the money was subsequently spent.
2. If it is political donation, and is meant for Umno’s political fund, then why has Najib kept quiet since the very beginning?
If Umno president is indeed allowed to hold such an account, why Muhyiddin as deputy president has been kept in the dark all this while?
Political donations exist in many governments in this world. So long as everything is done in a transparent manner, it is not a bad idea at all for political parties to accept donations in a bid to keep corruption and power abuse at bay.
If we have had a fully transparent mechanism governing the flow of political donations, we won’t have to see people exploiting the loophole today to legitimize the flow of large sums of money of dubious sources.
3. MACC was supposed to probe WSJ’s claim of US$700 million transferred from SRC International into Najib’s accounts, but why are its senior officers accused of leaking confidential information and now under probe themselves?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
