MP SPEAKS This year will certainly be noted for preposterous statements by ruling politicians.
It's worse when a person appointed to apple polish the prime minister's image shoots off his mouth without thinking.
The BN’s strategic communications director Abdul Rahman Dahlan said Prime Minister Najib Razak had to "take people out" when he knew there was a charge sheet against him by former attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail.
Rahman did not rule out the possibility that the charge sheet existed. In fact, in an interview with local daily The Star , Rahman said he believed the charge sheet was dismissed as false because it did not go through the proper channel of charging an individual.
I wonder if Rahman realises his folly.
There was a huge hullabaloo when Sarawak Report said Gani was sacked by Najib because he had drafted a corruption charge sheet against the prime minister in relation to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of the debt-ridden sovereign state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
The government said the whistleblower website had fabricated the charges. Then, Gani Patail ( photo ) lost his job.
Two directors of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) were transferred to the Prime Minister's Department, with their transfer orders revoked following a public outcry.
Top ranking civil servants in the Attorney-General's Chambers were also hauled up for questioning by the police.
Najib needs to be probed
And all this took place while the MACC was investigating the movement of RM2.6 billion into Najib's personal bank accounts.
Retired judge Mohamed Apandi Ali, who replaced Gani as attorney-general, dismissed that there was a charge sheet against Najib. And others too came to the prime minister's aid.
But Rahman's statement, plus another news article by Sarawak Report stating that funds from Najib's account were transferred out to Singapore warrant an investigation against Najib.
Najib’s claims that the RM 2.6 billion were donated to be used for party matters do not hold water anymore.
It's clear that the prime minister has lied.
So Najib must take a leave of absence until investigators clear him of any wrongdoing.
And there should be no more political interference into MACC's investigations as well.
CHARLES SANTIAGO is the Member of Parliament for Klang.
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