KUALA LUMPUR: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has questioned why former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is blaming the banking system for 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s failure, despite the latter himself having approved Goldman Sachs’ “exorbitant fee” to keep mum on the company’s failures.
“Najib blamed Goldman Sachs for failing in its task despite the exorbitant fee paid for the bank’s service.
“Wasn’t it Najib who approved the “exorbitant fee” for Goldman Sachs to hide from the world the “systemic failure” which enabled the commission of the heinous and monstrous 1MDB corruption and money-laundering scandal which landed Malaysia with the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy?
“Until today, Najib has maintained a very consistent stand that there is nothing basically wrong with 1MDB which could not be put right, but with the apology to the people of Malaysia by Goldman Sachs chief executive officer David Solomon who said Malaysia was defrauded by numerous individuals, including the highest members of the prior government, Najib has changed his tune,” Lim said in his blog post on Jan 18.
Lim said Najib had indirectly admitted that the 1MDB scandal - which he said caused Malaysia to be condemned by the world as a “global kleptocracy” - was a national catastrophe but maintained that the blame for the 1MDB scandal cannot be pinned on a single individual but was caused by systemic failure.
Lim, who is Iskandar Puteri member of parliament, added that it was ironic that Najib, who is in Cameron Highlands for the by-election, was quoted saying; “It just cannot be one man, it is a systemic failure.”
“Najib blamed Goldman Sachs for failing in its task despite the exorbitant fee paid for the bank’s service,” he said.
Lim also asked if the Pekan MP will make a confession about the 1MDB scandal during the Cameron Highlands by-election, by sharing with Malaysians the deepest and darkest secrets of the financial scandal.
On Wednesday, Solomon had apologised to Malaysians for former banker Tim Leissner’s role in the 1MDB scandal, but said the bank had conducted due diligence before every transaction.
Goldman is being investigated by Malaysian authorities and the United States Department of Justice for its role as underwriter and arranger of three bond sales that raised US$6.5 billion for the sovereign wealth fund.