Cabinet minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan has expressed disagreement with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's urging that the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) board of directors be sacked.
Termination should only be used as a last option should the board of directors refuse to give evidence to the auditor-general and Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said Abdul Rahman in a press release today.
"While I agree with Muhyiddin that immediate removal of the CEO and the board members could calm the public's anxiety over this issue, I am not that sure if the decision would help us expedite our quest to find the truth.
"In my opinion, sacking the current CEO and the board members now should only be an option if they refuse to testify.
"Both men have gone on public record saying they will cooperate and look forward to testify in the Auditor-General and the PAC investigations," said Abdul Rahman, who holds the housing, local government and urban well-being portfolio.
Abdul Rahman was responding to the circulation of a seven-minute video clip which depicted Muhyiddin telling a closed-door meeting with Umno leaders recently that 1MDB's board of directors should be sacked before putting Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak in bad light.
Muhyiddin also said that the board of directors should be subjected to police investigations.
Time will be wasted
Abdul Rahman warned that giving the board of directors the boot and then appointing new members would be a waste of time.
“Naturally, the first thing the new CEO and the board members would be asking is for more time to understand the issues at hand. How could they answer questions if they do not know the head or tail?
“They might ask for a few months to go through all the details before they could understand what had happened and then testify in the auditor-general and the PAC investigations. That is time wasted and goes against the very call for urgency by the public to investigate 1MDB,” the Kota Belud MP reasoned.
Abdul Rahman, who is also an Umno supreme council member, said he watched the video clip five times but could not find any major differences in views between Najib and Muhyiddin ( photo ).
He pointed out the worries expressed by Muhyiddin that the 1MDB has become an urgent public concern and if not resolved immediately would affect the government and the future of the party.
“If we follow his public statements, Najib has been saying the same,” Abdul Rahman added.
Secondly, the minister said Muhyiddin had urged an immediate and urgent investigation and “the need to hold the bull by its horns".
“So does the prime minister. That is why Najib announced an immediate investigation which must be completed in a few months.
“The only difference is that Muhyiddin wants the current board of directors and the CEO be removed immediately, while Najib is taking a position that action against anyone will only be taken after exhaustive investigation is completed,” he said.
Arul not involved
Abdul Rahman also pointed out that Arul Kanda (1MDB president and group executive director), who was appointed only recently, is not involved in the much talked about controversial transactions of 1MDB which occurred way before he joined the organisation.
“I don't know how his sacking can contribute in our quest to find the truth,” he said.
On another note, Abdul Rahman said to be fair to Muhyiddin, the DPM did mention in the video that it was not his intention to show hatred towards the PM but only to tell that they are not on the same page.
“In fact in the video, the DPM took time to say that he respected the PM,” he added.
