Kuala Lumpur – The following is the second part of former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamed’s explanation on the “1MDB Saga” which he wrote recently in his blog “chedet.cc”:-
- MDB, presumably upon advice of the company’s adviser i.e. The Prime Minister bought Government land in Kuala Lumpur at RM 60/- psf in an area where land had been sold for as high as RM 7000/- psf. Najib who is also the Finance Minister should have sold the Government land at near market price. By selling it at RM 60/- psf, the Government lost a lot of money.
- There is a clear case of conflict of interest when the Minister of Finance is also the adviser to 1MDB. If it was not Najib who approved this sale, then who did? The officer approving this sale should be charged with losing Government money.
- This land was revalued upwards so that the asset of 1MDB increased to RM 50 billion Ringgit.
- Similarly the Sungai Besi airport land was sold to 1MDB. The price is not known but effectively 1MDB already owned the land and have made preparations for moving the RMAF base to Subang. Revaluing this land would increase the asset of 1MDB. Again the Government lost a lot of money.
- 1MDB then sold a portion of the land in Jalan Tun Razak to Tabung Haji at RM 3,500 psf. Thus a fund contributed by intending pilgrims was used to repay 1MDB loans. This is grossly unfair to the intending pilgrims, most of whom are poor.
- Land was also bought in Penang for higher than market price. This land is occupied by nearly a thousand squatters. Besides Penang is ruled by the opposition party. It is unlikely that development plan for this land would be approved.
- 1MDB stand to lose more money because of this purchase.
- All of 1MDB’s other investments have yielded hardly any profit. 1MDB simply cannot repay the RM42 billion loans that it had taken. There is evidence of fraud and unexplained loss of money. Claims that the money has been properly invested and is giving profits cannot be verified. No documentary proofs can be found as to where huge sums of money are being kept.
- The belief is that the 2.6 billion Ringgit in Najib’s private accounts is from 1MDB has not been properly and credibly refuted.
- The fact that Najib has not sued Wall Street Journal for exposing many of the wrongs committed by 1MDB and Najib himself seems to prove that what the newspaper had reported is irrefutable. So is the failure to sue Sarawak Reports on 1MDB and Najib’s 681 millions USD in his private account.
- This is only a part of the 1MDB story. There are more scandals involving the 1MDB than any other funds in Malaysian history. This is a part of the reason why Najib should cease to be the PM of Malaysia.
