Just Justo
Dr Mahathir Mohamad
1. Some people are very excited about Justo. Now they say the critics of the Prime Minister should apologise. Apologise for what? The fact remains that vast amounts of money has disappeared. Can Justo bring all the money back?
2. Justo was dismissed and Petro Saudi gave him 15 million Ringgit. Is he being bribed or what? That is a handsome amount to pay an employee or director after he had done something wrong. Normally he would just be kicked out. But we are told he is not happy with this amount and demanded for more or else he would leak documents. What is the proof that he tampered with the documents or he has more incriminating documents. How does he negate the fact as admitted by the Prime Minister in a written reply to Parliament? He said that, “a US1.9 billion dollar loan from 1MDB to a subsidiary of Petro Saudi International Limited was in order to reduce the risk on the equity holding.” Giving a loan to a joint-venture partner who was found unsuitable as a JV partner would increase the risk, not reduce it.
3. When the JV was dissolved after only 6 months of its formation, it must be because 1MDB realised that the venture was bad. What it should do is to demand the equity and the loan amounting to US1.9 billion be returned. Instead it was converted into a loan (murabahah).
4. Having given this US1.9 billion loan, where is the money now? The Government has not clarified. Is it in Cayman Islands, or in Singapore or where. That amount of money cannot be shifted around without being recorded by the banks involved. Surely Najib knows. Yet the money has not returned.
5. Even if Justo tampered with the e-mail, it does not alter the fact that 1MDB forked out US1.9 billion to the JV with Petro Saudi, which within 6 months was so worthless that the JV was aborted. And after that the investment and the loan of US700 million was converted to a loan to a partner you no longer believe could deliver through the JV. You had some direct control over a JV, but not over the borrower.
