Umno minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek and others in the government were told to stop their desperate and embarrassing attempts to downplay the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil forfeiture suit against 1MDB.
PKR central committee member Latheefa Koya slammed the agriculture and agro-based Industries minister for being irresponsible and outrageous, in saying that the DOJ's legal suit was a "normal matter".
"He displays an utter lack of concern for Malaysian taxpayers' money," she said in a statement, adding this was the biggest seizure of assets of its kind in the history of the United States.
"What he claims is a 'normal matter', involved money laundering on a massive scale involving the purchase of yachts, hotels and a jet, paintings by Van Gogh and Monet and even a Hollywood movie!" she said in a statement today.
"Further, the 'Malaysian official no 1' mentioned in the suit is a matter of gravest concern to the people of this country, and certainly not a 'normal matter'.
"These seizures have caused and continue causing massive reputational damage to Malaysia and its economy.”
No amount of special pleading by Ahmad Shabery and others would succeed in suppressing the truth or changing anything, stressed the PKR lawyer.
On July 20, the US DOJ announced a crackdown on alleged misappropriation of 1MDB funds, through the use of civil suits.
The DOJ claims that more than US$3.5 billion had been diverted from 1MDB over the course of several years, to the benefit of several individuals, including an unnamed high ranking public servant dubbed 'Malaysian Official 1'
Also implicated in the DOJ's suits were Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's stepson Riza Aziz, and Penang-born tycoon Jho Low.
Ahmad Shabery had claimed DOJ's forfeiture attempt against 1MDB was nothing out of the ordinary.
"What happened is a normal matter in the country’s administration. In fact, we have been faced with a situation which is bigger, like the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal,” he had declared. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.