“Also, both countries have since issued updates through the media on their on-going investigations into 1MDB.”

So, if Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is upset that the Swiss issued a media update on 1MDB, said Shahbudin Husin the analyst, “describing it as a setback in bilaterial ties”, he should clarify his stand on the media updates issued by two investigative agencies in Singapore on 1MDB.

“The question that arises is why is he just keeping quiet about the moves by Singapore on 1MDB.

“Zahid doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to criticise the Singapore move although he sprung into action at lightning speed when the Swiss issued a statement on 1MDB.”

The analyst has been reduced to wondering why Zahid has yet to say that the action taken by the two investigative agencies in Singapore risks hurting bilateral ties across both sides of the Causeway.

“Zahid should state in no uncertain terms, just as he did with the Swiss, that Singapore should have dealt with Malaysia, on 1MDB, on the quiet on a government-to-government (G2G) basis.”

Alternatively, Shahbudin ventures that Zahid may have since decided that it was no longer necessary to defend Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on 1MDB, perhaps having realised belatedly that it was a serious mistake on his part for having taken sides.

“Zahid knows that too many investigative agencies in too many countries have since uncovered, separately, too much incriminating evidence on 1MDB.”

Shahbudin was commenting on Singapore announcing that it was making progress on investigations into 1MDB’s activities on the island, an international financial centre.

“Earlier, last Tuesday, the Office of the Swiss Attorney-General announced through the media that at least USD4 billion may have been siphoned out from 1MDB illegally by several parties linked with the company.

“The Commercial Affairs Division and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, on their part, have announced that they have seized several bank accounts related to their on-going investigations into 1MDB.”

Even more interesting, said the analyst, was Singapore disclosing that it would work closely with investigative agencies in Switzerland and the US, besides Malaysia, on 1MDB.

“The focus would be on money laundering and other cross-border criminal activities.

“All these mean that there would be developments on 1MDB after this in several other countries, besides Singapore and Switzerland.”

Rest assured, continued the analyst, the truth would prevail and all the shenanigans which have been going on at 1MDB would be exposed. “1MDB can no longer hide behind so-called audited financial reports and issuing spin statements and the like.”

Returning to Zahid tearing into the Swiss Attorney-General for his media statement on 1MDB, Shahbudin ventured that the Deputy Prime Minister should not have got involved and made reckless remarks in the media in defence of the trouble-stricken Ministry of Finance (MoF)-owned strategic investment and development arm.

“When the Swiss found incriminating evidence against 1MDB, they took the right step in alerting the Attorney-General in Malaysia and requesting his assistance to get to the bottom of things in 1MDB.”

Shahbudin said Zahid appears to be oblivious to the standard practice in Switzerland, as elsewhere, that any progress made on cases which have a significant degree of public interest and public concern must be communicated to the public through regular media updates.

“This is in the interest of transparency, good governance and public accountability.

“The public should not have grounds to harbour suspicions about the authorities concerned. They should not suspect that wrongdoing was being covered up, swept under the carpet, and that the Administration was going after investigative agencies which got too close to the powers-that-be on wrongdoing.”

Zahid probably doesn’t realise, said the analyst, that investigative agencies in other countries were free and independent, beholden to no one and cannot be manipulated and intimidated into submission.

“1MDB should also realise that the world was increasingly shrinking, into a global village, everything crossing borders freely.”