SHAH ALAM, 18 Mar: The governance and management of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, as the tightly controlled national fund, is one of the factors of the establishment of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
PKR Vice President, Rafizi Ramli, said that this is most probably because Khazanah cannot be played it because they have strict governance.
“1MDB should not have been established because the country has a state fund that is managed well. So, because it cannot be played with, thus the existence of 1MDB,” he said during the Sinar Harian discourse which explored ‘What is behind 1MDB’.
Rafizi, who is also the Pandan Member of Parliament, said that 1MDB is being questioned not because of the Board of Directors, which is said to be experienced in managing companies worth billions of ringgit.
He said that it is because of the issuing of money to individual accounts that have nothing to do with the Board of Directors.
“We, Pakatan Rakyat, never questioned the Board of Directors, but we are asking why the money is going into the pockets of individuals who are closely tied to the Prime Minister’s family,” he said.
Previously, businessman Low Taek Jho Low is one of the individuals associated in the matter involving the first investment for 1MDB.
He is also a good friend of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz, as reported by the New York Times.
Rafizi also challenged Najib to sue Jho Low and several newspapers abroad if the allegations are not true.
“In Parliament, we also received the answer that the RM4 billion from the people’s pension fund is being injected for investment in coal and mines across the world.
“This week it was confirmed that the RM4 billion was invested in a company in Mongolia,” he said.
NS
