Get Interpol to help in 1MDB probe, veteran newsman says
(Malay Mail Online) – Veteran newsman Datuk A. Kadir Jasin has told the authorities in charge of investigating the debt-ridden 1 Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to seek assistance from Interpol to track down witnesses or suspects living overseas.
Kadir also said yesterday that the investigation team must ensure that any evidence of wrongdoing is preserved to ensure transparency and independence of the probe.
“For the task force, the first order of business is to ensure that evidence of criminal wrongdoings is preserved. It has to stop evidence from being erased…and witnesses from disappearing,” Kadir wrote in a blog post titled “Be Haste (sic) in Tracking Down Jho Low”.
“With some key witnesses and possible suspects in the 1MDB investigation residing abroad, including Jho Low (billionaire Low Taek Jho), the task force should seek assistance of Interpol to track them down,” he added, referring to the international police organisation.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar announced on Monday that a high-powered team comprising officials from the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the police will investigate all complaints against state investment fund 1MDB.
Kadir also told Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to cooperate with the investigation to ensure transparency.
“Having made a promise to the effect that no stone will be left unturned and the guilty will face the full weight of the law, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak must now prove that he is a man of his words.
“If the prime minister has nothing to hide, he will happily cooperate with the investigators,” Kadir said, referring to Khalid’s statement that Najib will be included in the investigation as well.
Najib has come under fire from federal opposition lawmakers, with DAP MP Tony Pua linking him to the controversy surrounding 1MDB at a party fundraising dinner last November.
The prime minister has since filed a defamation suit against Pua over the latter’s speech that was caught on video and uploaded online under the title: “Tony Pua: Najib is creating the biggest scandal ever in the history of Malaysia”.
1MDB is currently the subject of an investigation by the Auditor General’s Department and in line for further scrutiny by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
1MDB came under criticism after a British paper, The Sunday Times in collaboration with whistleblower site Sarawak Report, ran an exposé on March 1 on Low and his alleged links to 1MDB’s venture with oil exploration and production firm PetroSaudi International.
In the exposé, Sarawak Report accused the Malaysian tycoon popularly known as Jho Low, of siphoning off US$700 million (RM2.5 billion) from 1MDB and using PetroSaudi as a “front” in a 2009 joint-venture.
Petrosaudi has since denied the allegations.
