In a statement released by Cynthia Gabriel of Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4), Ivy Josiah (Proham), Sevan Doraisamy (Suaram) and Faribel Fernandez (Pusat Komas) today, they demanded Najib reveal how much this trip is costing Malaysian taxpayers.
“We are mystified by the timing of this trip, and how it was so craftily sorted out, so quickly after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Kuala Lumpur last month.
“Malaysians have a right to know how much public funds were spent by the prime minister on insider consultants in order to secure this visit,” they said, referring to the long-accepted practice of using lobbyists in Washington DC to facilitate such meetings for a sizeable fee.
Such practices are not new to Malaysia with foreign news reports claiming in 2006 that the Malaysian government paid US$1.2 million (RM5 million) to famous lobbyist Jack Abramoff to arrange former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s meeting with former US president George W Bush in May 2002.
As it was then, this visit by Najib to the White House is a major diplomatic honour too.
“The question remains though on why is Najib being given such an honour especially with his association to the 1MDB scandal, which is now a subject of investigations in no less than six countries, including the US,” they said.
In its latest court filings in California, in June, the US Department of Justice said it was seeking to seize US$540 million (RM2.3 billion) in assets including art works, jewellery, a yacht worth worth US$165 million, and film rights purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
It followed the civil forfeiture suit by the DoJ in July last year, which sought to recover all the assets including but not limited to the Park Lane hotel in New York, a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, condominiums in New York, a private jet, expensive works of art, as well as the financing of Martin Scorsese’s movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio.
The NGOs leaders, in their statement, believe though that it came as no surprise for Trump to be meeting Najib.
“President Trump has shown a penchant for strongman authoritarian type of leaders, and in addition, has in common with Najib a DoJ investigation upon himself as well, for his alleged involvement with Russia in relation to the 2016 presidential election.
“They have both sacked top law enforcers investigating them, just to stay on top.”
However, the activists believe this trip would not make any difference to the DoJ’s investigation into 1MDB funds used illegally.
“If Najib and his entourage hope to dismiss the ongoing 1MDB probe as frivolous, they may want to think again. For it is evident that the DoJ is operating without the influence or opinion of the White House, as even Trump couldn’t shake himself off his own case.”
The NGOs also suggested that Trump may be using Najib’s visit to assert the US’ territorial influence over Southeast Asia, especially with the growing presence of China in the region.
“The US influence has been on the wane in the region since Trump took office, leaving China so much room to exert its powers. In the last one year alone, Malaysia has raked in more than RM400 billion in infrastructure investments alone, including the grand one belt one road link traversing Southeast Asia and beyond.
“The emerging threat of war involving North Korea also puts Malaysia at an important pivot to leverage US geopolitical interest in the region,” the statement read.
With all that is going on in Malaysia, and a looming general election, the NGOs again asked as to the real intention behind Najib’s visit to the US.