“No wonder Malaysia is included among the ten most corrupt countries in the world.”
Even the MACC was not free, lamented Mahathir in a head shaker. “I was right when I predicted that the Attorney-General Mohd Apandi Ali will reject the report by the MACC as he did with the report by Bank Negara.”
A lot of people must know the contents of both reports, ventured the former Prime Minister. “But they have all seen what can happen even when someone lodges a report to the police. They are scared.”
Mahathir confessed that he was sacred too. “In Malaysia today, laws and rules no longer protect the people. The Official Secrets Act (OSA), for example, was used to prevent reports from reaching the people.”
“On the other hand, people are now exposed to abuse of the OSA and they may end up in jail. Even the Internal Security Act (ISA) did not frighten people as much.”
In Malaysia, charged Mahathir, the Attorney-General decides if a law has been broken or not. “That decision is in fact a judgment. The Attorney-General is both a judge and a prosecutor. This in itself is an injustice.”
The former Prime Minister was conceding that he was not shocked when the AG decided that the report by the MACC does not show that the Prime Minister has committed any criminal act when RM2.6 billion was found in his private accounts or a further amount of RM42 million was also found in his account. “I had already said it would be his decision.”
Merely having that amount of money in a Prime Minister’s account was already wrong even though it may not be criminal, said Mahathir. “But now the AG declares that the money was a gift from the Saudis.”
It seems there was a letter by a Saudi stating that a sum of USD681 million or RM2.08 billion was a donation for the Prime Minister’s contribution to the fight against Islamic terrorists, said Mahathir. “Who is this Arab, how does he have the huge sum of money to give away, what is his business, what is his bank, how was the money transferred, what documents prove these.”
“Just a letter from a deceased person or some non-entity is enough for the Attorney-General.”
Then, said the former Prime Minister, Apandi Ali goes on to say that the balance of USD620 million or RM2.03 billion has been returned to the Saudis. “How and when was this done?”
“We are told the balance was frozen by Singapore. Can Singapore explain the unfreezing and the delivery back to the Saudis? Or does Singapore also believe in the free gift story, the letter and the Saudi admission.”
Singapore is a financial centre, pointed out Mahathir. “Can it be so gullible?”
Then the A-G concludes that there was no case for Najib to answer, noted Mahathir. “He also directed MACC to close the case and cease investigation.”