Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s recent comments regarding the US’ Department of Justice’s civil action against individuals related to the 1MDB issue only serve to reveal his ignorance of the law.
The DoJ—as an agency of a sovereign government—is within its rights to take the civil forfeiture and recovery action in order to protect the US’ interests based on the facts they presented in the suit.
Furthermore, the suit is against specific individuals who have every right to defend themselves. There is no implication—as far as one can tell—against the Malaysian government, or that it has been deemed to be “guilty” of anything.
All the DoJ has done is to present the facts with detailed evidence. Therefore, if Putrajaya believes they have been unfairly treated, all the government needs to do is to rebut these facts.
This can be done by first identifying or revealing who is the so-called “Malaysian Official 1” in the suit, who was variously described as a senior government official, a person of authority in 1MDB and a relative of Riza Aziz (one of the persons named in the suit); and as having allegedly received an exorbitant amount of money through 1MDB dealings.
After all, the people of Malaysia deserve a full and unequivocal disclosure from the Federal Government on all the facts regarding this case.
The Federal Government must come clean as to whether or not the allegations in the lawsuit are true and if so, how these chain of events came about.
If not, what is the use of airing such grouses?
It is understandable that Khairy wishes to defend the Prime Minister, even if he is called a “macai” in doing so. But the best way to do so would be to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
