KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak must be held responsible and accountable for the "worst corruption scandal ever in Malaysian history".
He said, Najib "could not be more wrong" when the latter denied that the RM6.9 billion payment to service 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) debts last year was a "bailout".
Lim pointed out that, instead of debating the status of the payments, Najib should instead explain the result of several transactions from 2009 involving over US$8.35 billion (RM33 billion).
"There could be no other description for the RM6.98 billion worth of payments by MoF (Finance Ministry) on behalf of 1MDB to date, other than to describe it as the single largest bailout in history carried out by the Government of Malaysia.
"Instead of debating whether the above payments were a bailout by the MoF, it would be more productive for Datuk Seri Najib Razak to account for the following transactions," he said in a statement today.
Lim said Najib should answer questions surrounding the US$1.83 billion (RM7.29 billion) invested with Petrosaudi International Limited between 2009 and 2011, the US$3.5 billion (RM13.93 billion) raised in 2012 for acquiring power plants in Malaysia and the US$3 billion (13.93 billion) raised in 2013 for investing in Tun Razak Exchange (TRX).
The former Penang chief minister also said that the RM6.98 billion paid by MoF on behalf of 1MDB were in relation to borrowings, adding that it was completely unrelated to the real estate projects sold by 1MDB to government-linked companies.
"The MoF will work hand-in-glove with the 1MDB Special Committee set up by the Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to uncover the complete truth behind the 1MDB.
"(This is) in order to (firstly) recover as much of the lost and stolen funds as possible to plug the debts and deficits created by the Najib administration and (secondly to) punish those responsible for the worst corruption scandal ever in Malaysian history," he added.