At the time when Nazir Razak made his decision to disburse USD7 million on behalf of his brother, Prime Minister Najib Razak, he probably did not know the gravity of the goings-on at 1Malaysia Development Berhad nor was he able to foresee what was coming his way. This is what most people say, hindsight is always perfect.

I like Nazir’s statement: “At that time, I [Nazir] did not think it was wrong.” I think this sentence alone provides us with good insight into his mind. At “that” time (when he extended help to his brother before the 13th General Election), is he saying he did not know disbursing the money was wrong? Now, with more information unfolding, is he saying perhaps it was not so right?

As reported, many have commended his decision to take a leave of absence to facilitate investigations into his involvement in disbursing the funds. The purpose was to protect the integrity of the bank, so to speak.

Be that as it may, what difference would his leave of absence and the internal review make on an event that has already taken place i.e. USD7 million (real sources unknown at that time) that was channelled into his account for disbursement to certain politicians/party workers just before the general election?

There is a difference between USD7 million funnelled through Nazir’s account as being “nothing wrong” and USD7 million funnelled through Nazir’s account that he thought would not have become a “protracted” problem someday.

I am writing this with the benefit of hindsight of course. When USD7 million was given to him for disbursement, did he not ask certain fundamental questions, given his status as an experienced and respected banker?

First, was USD7 million a large or small figure, given the number of people he had to give the money to? How many were at the receiving end and what was the amount each received? Would this not have been a red flag?

Second, if this was legitimate political funding for the general election, why didn’t the leaders use official party channels to disburse the money? Would this not have been another red flag?

Third, would he have helped if the request had come from a government leader other than his brother?

I think in life there are many things we do where we rarely think about the consequences of if the likelihood of those consequences coming back to haunt us is low.

I guess we only learn when the shit hits the fan.

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

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