DAP supports Malay Rulers' call to complete 1MDB investigations immediately

DAP today announced their support to the call made by the Malay Rulers in wanting the government to complete the investigations into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as soon as possible.

Its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said these were serious matters involving billions of ringgit and that was the reason the Malay Rulers were calling for action against those found guilty.

"Our stand is not only to echo the call from the Conference of Rulers but also reflect the concern of the Malaysian public," he said after launching the Penang Accelerator for Creative, Analytics and Technology Centre at Wisma Yap Chor Ee here today.

The Conference of Rulers at their pre-council meeting on Tuesday issued a statement on the same day wanting the government to complete the investigation related to 1MDB as soon as possible and take "the appropriate stern action" against all found to be implicated.

In the statement, their royal highnesses stressed that all concerned should extend "real and sincere" cooperation for the investigation to achieve its objectives.

Lim said that according to Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) statement yesterday, the central bank had actually recommended action to be taken by the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) against those involved in the 1MDB scandal.

But he said the AGC has found no evidence.

"So until and unless these issues are answered, the statement and pronouncement made by the Conference of Rulers will not be respected and complied with," he said.

On Thursday, the AGC said in a statement that it has cleared 1MDB officials of making a false statement which was the focus of a BNM probe, saying that no offence was committed, so no further action would be taken.

Yesterday, BNM in a statement said that the bank concluded after investigations that 1MDB had obtained permission for its investments with inaccurate information or incomplete disclosure of material information.

The statement referred to the decision of the AGC which found that 1MDB officials investigated under the Exchange Control Act 1953 (ECA) did not make any false statement.

BNM said the decision "relates to the bank's recommendation to initiate criminal prosecution against 1MDB for breaches under the ECA."

However, Lim, who is also Penang Chief Minister, said now the priority was to restore the public confidence by asking the AGC to explain why they refused to file charges recommended by BNM.

He said there can be no public confidence if there was no public accountability and now both the institutions were at loggerheads, with BNM saying one thing and the AGC saying another.

"This failure similarly affects their credibility and this issue must be addressed to restore confidence among investors, especially internationally," he said.