Media Statement 28 Jun 2018
Cash and “Gifts” Seized from Najib Underscores the Urgent Need for Political Financing Reforms
Malaysians were again shocked by the disgusting scale of corruption surrounding 1MDB and former Prime Minister Najib Razak, when yesterday, the police revealed the value of items seized during the raid last month.
After more than a month of counting and valuation, the police finally estimated that the total value of the items are RM900 million to RM1.1 billion. This includes RM116 million in cold hard cash, over 12,000 pieces of jewelry, and 567 handbags.
These for sure have not include the many other assets, cash, and luxury goods stashed away overseas by Najib and his cohorts.
Najib has justified that these were “gifts” from foreign leaders and personal friends. In doing so, he has again taken Malaysians for fools as he has similarly justified that the RM2.6 billion previously transferred to his personal account in 2013 was a “donation” from a Saudi prince.
It seems that Najib has not learnt his lesson.
The spotlight is again on Political Financing
More worrying however, Najib has also claimed that the RM116 million of cash seized were meant for election expenses during the 14th General Elections. This is again similar to his admittance, backed by several other Ministers, that the RM2.6 billion transferred to his account in 2013 was to fund BN’s election campaign in the 13th General Elections.
Hence, the issue of political financing is of utmost importance for the government and Members of Parliament (MPs) to pay attention to and address seriously.
At present, there is a gaping hole in political financing legislation, which leads to problems such as this, where politicians can get off scot free by claiming that money from corruption are “donations” for election purposes.
This is backed by the fact that many candidates were guilty of vote buying by handing out money and goodies openly in the last general elections.
Pakatan Harapan must lead the way in political financing reform
In the same interview, Najib has also blamed Pakatan Harapan for opposing and rejecting reforms on political financing, when in fact he had all the means at his disposal to propose and pass new laws on political financing during his tenure as Prime Minister.
It is therefore time for the Pakatan Harapan government and MPs to take immediate steps to institute regulation on political financing. This is to ensure corruption and abuse of funds for elections would not happen again.
As a first step, Pakatan Harapan must immediately fulfil its manifesto promise on political financing by setting up a Special Committee to examine past proposals and preparing the new Political Financing Control Act.
Pakatan Harapan must be brave and lead the way in creating a more open, transparent, and accountable political system. It is time now for Malaysia to transit to a truly functioning democracy.
And for this to happen, Pakatan Harapan must again lead the way and show Najib how it is done.
YB Khoo Poay Tiong Member of parliament P138 Kota Melaka
