Don’t divert attention, Khairuddin tells Apandi
Umno man says AG should cooperate with international authorities on alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds.
PETALING JAYA: Resolve issues revolving around 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and those involving Prime Minister Najib Razak instead of diverting the nation’s attention.
This was the message sacked Umno Batu Kawan vice-chief Khairuddin Abu Hassan had for Attorney-General (AG) Mohamed Apandi Ali.
Khairuddin, in a Facebook posting today, said Apandi should take care of one matter at a time and urged the AG to cooperate with international authorities that allegedly had evidence on alleged misappropriations in 1MDB.
Last month, the Swiss AG revealed that as much as US$4 billion may have been misappropriated from 1MDB and transferred to Swiss bank accounts.
Various former Malaysian public officials and both former and current officials of the United Arab Emirates were said to be involved.
The Swiss AG has since invoked mutual assistance provisions for Malaysian action against two former 1MDB officials.
“Produce the evidence in black and white so that Malaysians will be satisfied with this issue which has been discussed nationally,” he said, referring to the RM2.6 billion political donation and the RM42 million SRC International sum banked into Najib’s personal accounts.
Khairuddin, who is among 1MDB’s prominent critics, was responding to Apandi’s proposal to amend the Official Secrets Act which would see whistleblowers and reporters producing news based on leaked documents imprisoned for life and receiving 10 strokes of the rotan if found guilty.
If the proposal were to be implemented, Khairuddin said investigative reporting would be “dull” as the press would have little freedom.
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“How will it harm the nation if official documents are leaked if it is to combat corruption?”