SHAH ALAM: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak admitted his administration was duped by quarters entrusted to monitor 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
He said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government then had appointed lawyers, auditors and the Goldman Sachs Group to monitor the country's strategic investment arm, however bad things happened when the monitoring was not done properly.
"We already appointed lawyers, auditors, bank... which means we had in place a correct system... however, they did not carry out their duties... that is the conclusion," he said in a special interview aired live on Sinar Harian's Facebook page today.
Najib was asked on the mistakes made by the previous government in its failure to detect the fraud allegedly committed by financier Low Taek Jho or Jho Low.
When asked about the decision for 1MDB to cooperate with Jho Low, Najib said, his administration made the decision after evaluating the businessman's capabilities, as well as his close relationship with several countries in west Asia.
"Originally, he (Jho Low) was the negotiator to Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA). Before he was with 1MDB, he had close ties with countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
"He also succeeded in bringing investments to the two countries. So at the time, I looked at it from that aspect. However, when he committed fraud, action must be taken against him," Najib added.
Commenting further, Najib repeated his stand that the 1MDB issue was not the main factor in BN's defeat.
"I admit the 1MDB issue had its impact, but I stress that the 1MDB issue was among the factors, not the only factor or the main factor that led to BN's fall," he said.