It certainly can’t get any more damning that this. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed lawsuits seeking to seize dozens of properties tied to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), saying that over USD 3.5 billion was misappropriated from the sovereign fund.
The complaint does not name Prime Minister Najib Razak, but it does cite “Malaysian Official 1,” described as a high-ranking government official who oversaw the fund and is a close relative of Riza Aziz, his stepson.
It therefore doesn’t take too much brain space to figure out Najib’s involvement in the dizzyingly complex scandal.
While Najib has not been able to clearly explain the transfer of billions of dollars into his private bank account, the Department of Justice said USD 731 million was allegedly siphoned from 1MDB into a bank account owned by the unnamed ‘Malaysian Official 1’.
This is the first time that a sitting Malaysian premier has been dogged by a financial scandal that has not just rocked the country but hogged the limelight in different parts of the world.
There are also six other international investigations being carried out into corruption and money laundering, where the funds intended to develop Malaysia were instead used to buy properties, artworks and a private jet.
Najib must therefore step down with immediate effect not just for the grand scale of kleptocracy that he has orchestrated but also for halting investigations into the investment fund by removing top guys in his governing party UMNO, absorbing Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members into the cabinet, using a slew of draconian laws to silence dissidents who criticized him and further tarnishing the image of the judiciary and police force.
The Attorney General, Mohamed Apandi Ali, and top cop Khalid Abu Bakar must also tender their resignations for working in cahoots with Najib to close the investigations against the Prime Minister.
There must be an independent investigation against Najib by regional and international bodies, together with the Malaysian civil society as the country’s institutions have lost all credibility to conduct an impartial investigation.
The billions that have been squandered away belong to the rakyat. As such all future investigations into the 1MDB financial scandal together with the PAC and MACC reports must be made public as the people deserve to know the truth.
This is clearly the beginning of the end for Najib. He had cleverly twisted facts and figures, jailed critics and even shutdown websites to hide his role in the heist.
But not anymore.