Referring to the post by the prime minister prior to the Budget 2018 announcement on Friday, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the most outrageous claim was that 1MDB had not only “brought the country good” but “is on track to realise a profit”.
“1MDB is currently an empty shell, holding absolutely nothing but some RM40 billion of debts.
“How in the world is 1MDB ‘on track to realise a profit’? If this is not a brazen attempt by Najib to create ‘fake news’, what is?” Pua said, adding that such statements throw doubt on the entire credibility of the prime minister’s “economic vision”.
The DAP national publicity secretary also took a dig at Najib for “admitting” the wrongs of the Barisan Nasional over the issue of independent power producers (IPP).
“Najib argued that it was 1MDB which solved the lop-sided power purchase agreements and attributed it to the Barisan Nasional government of the past.
“We are thankful that Najib finally admitted that those IPPs were allowed to profit astronomically from the BN administration of which he was a part for more than 30 years.
“However, Malaysians are still clueless as to how 1MDB apparently ‘solved’ the above injustice,” he said.
According to Pua, Malaysians had not received any benefit from 1MDB’s acquisition of IPPs as the electricity tariff has only increased and not decreased.
“Worse, 1MDB’s RM12.1 billion misadventure in the power sector resulted in multi-billion ringgit losses when it was forced to dispose of its entire energy interests to a China outfit for a mere RM9.3 billion.”
Pua then challenged Najib to really prove how 1MDB has been good for the country and will turn a profit by lifting the lid on the veil of secrecy that seems to have been placed on the issue for so long.
“If the prime minister really thinks that 1MDB has been the saviour of Malaysia, then he should immediately lift the ban on 1MDB questions raised in the Dewan Rakyat.
“He should then table a Ministerial Statement to ‘debunk’ all the so-called ‘lies’ by the members of the opposition and allow for a full debate on 1MDB,” Pua said.
He added that the prime minister has even failed to debunk the issues raised by the US Department of Justice in its multiple civil suits to seize billions of dollars worth of assets purchased with funds allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
Pua was referring to the allegation by DoJ that from 2009 through 2015, more than US$4.5 billion (RM19 billion) belonging to 1MDB had been diverted by high-level officials of the fund and their associates.
“Najib must think Malaysians are fools to believe in all his outrageous lies.”