KUALA LUMPUR: Lim Kit Siang today came to the defence of his son Lim Guan Eng and his handling of the 1MDB issue.
“I can agree that there should be ‘tactful handling of the 1MDB mess’ but not if by being tactful one continues with the sea of lies, fake news and false information about 1MBD.
“Tactful by all means, but it can be no excuse not to adhere strictly to the principles of truth, transparency and accountability in dealing with the 1MDB mess,” Lim said.
Lim, in a statement, said that Bloomberg columnist Andy Mukherjee had said Guan Eng should be more tactful in handling the 1MDB probe.
The Iskander Puteri MP said he had also received messages from others regarding the manner in which the 1MDB issue was being handled.
One of the messages is this: “It is wiser for Guan Eng to make statements that don’t sound like one coming from the opposition before the change of government. He is in the government and the country would be better off with more economically positive pointers or narratives.”
Guan Eng, at a press conference, had described 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda as being “utterly dishonest and untrustworthy”, after a meeting with the latter, 1MDB chief financial officer Azmi Tahir and former general counsel Ivan Chen.
Mukherjee had said: “Malaysia’s new finance minister is taking a sledgehammer to 1MDB. A less blunt tool would do the job just as well, probably better.”