'1MDB has nothing to do with my resignation' - Ahmad Husni

Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said today that his resignation from the Cabinet and UMNO has nothing to do with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue.

Instead, he told reporters today that he resigned as the Second Finance Minister because he did not want to be moved to any other ministry.

"No ... my resignation has nothing to do with 1MDB because I had thought about retiring a long time ago. This is the problem when one retires; many will say there must have been a problem.

"1MDB has nothing to do with my resignation because I wanted to resign," he said, adding that 1MDB was a big business and "we cannot say the business was 100 per cent perfect".

"In business, there are two important things, namely business risk and financial risk. This means, anybody who takes over 1MDB would have to look at both these aspects. If they can, there is definitely no problem," he said.

Ahmad Husni also said that he did not have any problem with the Prime Minister, Cabinet or party.

"I told myself that one day I will retire, but when, I do not know. But I decided that my retirement would be at the Ministry of Finance.

"That's why I talked to the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak). I told him that I will retire at the MOF. If you want to move me, I don't want (that). So, please drop me," he told reporters at his Aidilfitri open house at his residence in Sungai Rokam here.

He had resigned as Second Finance Minister on June 27 before Najib announced a Cabinet reshuffle.

Subsequently, he also resigned from all his posts in UMNO at federal, state and divisional levels and is now just the MP for Tambun.

Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani has taken over as the second finance minister.

Ahmad Husni said he had wanted to retire from politics at the next general election and wanted to remain at the Finance Ministry until then.

"However, the Prime Minister had his own ideas and wanted to move me to another ministry," he said.

He said he wanted to remain at the Finance Ministry because he could help many quarters in need of aid.

"I believed that in the MOF, I could bring all people together because I believe in multi-culturalism," he said.

Ahmad Husni also denied that he would join former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad or any opposition party.

"No ... I will not join Dr Mahathir or any opposition party because I believe that in politics there is a point of termination," he said.

Ahmad Husni said that for now he wanted to provide the best service to his constituents in Tambun who had voted for and supported him all this while.

"Now what I want to do is the last thing as a Member of Parliament," he said, adding that his constituency had about 99,000 voters and about 300,000 constituents.

"They support me. That's why I will put my effort in serving as an MP as best as I can.

"When I am no longer in politics, I can be calm. It is so beautiful. My mind is without disturbance, because in politics there is much disturbance," he said.

Ahmad Husni said he had confidence in Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani as the Second Finance Minister.

"I will advise him to use his ability to the best and then, secondly, is integrity.

"You know, there are some people who like to take advantage. Sometimes, they will look at MOF. So, please use and practise integrity to the fullest," he said.