Finally the truth is out.
BarisanNasional’s Strategic Communications Director, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, has let out an open secret by publicly acknowledging Prime Minister NajibRazak as Malaysian Official 1 (MO1).
However his conclusion that Najib’s name was omitted in the report by US Department of Justice (DOJ) because he is not part of the investigations is fundamentally flawed and demonstrates Rahman’s ignorance.
Najib is not the defendant in the civil suit brought about by the DOJ because he has no properties in America bought using money stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign fund.
But the report refers to Malaysian Official 1 36 times and has named Najib’s stepson Riza Aziz, the financier who helped set-up 1MDB Jho Low and Khadem Al Qubaisi, former Managing Director of Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co as defendants.
Some of the allegations against the Malaysian Official 1 were the same as those in a 2015 Wall Street Journal article reporting on aUSD 681 million transfer to Najib’s personal bank account.
The lawsuits says the money, from a 2013 bond sale by 1MDB, was transferred to the account of “Malaysian Official 1”, clearly incriminating him.
Goldman Sachs, who issued the bonds almost in a jiffy following a private meeting with Najib in Switzerland, is also being investigated.
The US government is seeking to recover more than USD 1 billion worth of assets bought using money stolen from Malaysia’s state development fund by abusing its financial system in a complex money laundering scheme involving prominent political leaders, top businessmen, bankers and the ruling elite.
Investigations have been launched in at least six countries, including neighbouring Singapore.
So Rahman could rant and apple-polish all he wants, but it’s best he tries to understand the report before continuing to indulge in even more nonsensical arguments.