This is because the meeting came in the midst of a global investigation into the alleged embezzlement of billions of dollars of 1MDB funds, he said, in an open letter issued to Trump today.
“Mr President’s decision is ignorant of the current issues, especially one involving the 1MDB scandal which is being investigated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
“The invitation is unreasonable as it will lead to all sorts of speculation on the part of the US’ enforcement agencies probing the scandal,” Khairuddin said, adding that 1MDB’s alleged offences were committed in the US.
Khairuddin, who is the former Batu Kawan Umno division vice-chief, said that the meeting would indirectly be seen as an endorsement of Najib by the US President , thus negating the impact of the DoJ investigation.
This meeting is inappropriate, he said, as under Najib’s administration, Malaysia’s political, economic, and social systems have been severely jeopardised.
“The public is suffering from the high cost of living,” Khairuddin said.
He also took a jab at Najib’s claim of the country being a democratic one, saying under Najib’s regime, many including him and NGO leaders had been put behind bars for criticising the government.
Khairuddin and his lawyer Matthias Chang were arrested in 2015, and the following year, both were charged under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), for allegedly attempting to sabotage the country’s banking and financial services by lodging reports against 1MDB overseas.
Reports that Najib would visit Trump today have sparked speculation over the fate of the DoJ’s investigation.
The visit has also drawn flak from DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang who said the visit would bring shame to the country as he claimed Najib hadn’t cleared himself of allegations of corruption in the DoJ suit.
In its latest court filings in California, in June, the DoJ said it was seeking to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets including art works, jewellery, a yacht worth worth US$165 million, and film rights purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
It followed the civil forfeiture suit by the DoJ in July last year, which sought to recover all the assets including but not limited to the Park Lane hotel in New York, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, condominiums in New York, a private jet, expensive works of art, as well as the financing of Martin Scorsese’s movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio..
The total value of the assets sought by the DoJ stands at US$1.8 billion (RM7.7 billion).
The DoJ has also charged that from 2009 through 2015, more than US$4.5 billion (RM19 billion) belonging to 1MDB had been diverted by high-level officials of the fund and their associates.