YOURSAY | ‘When the music stops, who will be the unlucky one left holding the hot potato?’

MACC denies recommending 37 charges against Najib

Kim Quek: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) may deny that it recommended 37 charges against PM Najib Razak, but can it deny that it did recommend a number of charges against Najib?

I put this question across because Sarawak Report was not numerically precise on the number of charges anyway, but merely said “at least 37 separate charges”.

Judging from the seriousness of MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed’s tone in emphasising the impartiality and professionalism of its probes on the scandals shortly before presenting the report to the attorney-general (AG), it is extremely unlikely that MACC would not recommend that the PM be charged.

What puzzled me is that why should AG Mohamed Apandi Ali return the entire report to MACC just because he needed certain clarification on MACC’s recommendations.

Can’t he ask for such clarification in a memo instead of returning the entire file? Or was Apandi trying to throw the hot potato back to MACC, knowing that the evidence has already been “widely distributed and made known to all the top brass in Umno”, as reported by Sarawak Report , thus making a cover-up extremely hazardous?

MACC said it will respond to the AG soon. We sincerely hope that Abu Kassim will make this a shining moment of his career and do what is right for himself and the nation.

Wg321: MACC has denied recommending 37 charges against Najib in relation to the SRC International investigation. If it is not 37 charges, then how many charges did MACC recommended?

MACC should send back the dossier to Apandi to reconsider just like what Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz has done. It is practically impossible to cover up all the 37 big holes (charges) of the sinking Bugis pirate ship.

I think both Apandi and Abu Kassim are playing a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, I wonder who will be the unlucky one left holding the hot potato. The rakyat and the Malaysian diaspora overseas are watching this with tremendous interest.

Odin Tajué: I agree that the Sarawak Report's report that MACC had recommended 37 separate charges against Najib involving the SRC case is untrue. It is indeed untrue.

It is obvious the MACC's report would have covered not just the RM42 million stolen from the SRC but also the donation from ‘Mr Imagined Arab With No Name’. And how much was that donation? Ah, we'll get to that shortly.

Therefore, we can take it that the MACC has indeed recommended that 37 charges be preferred against Najib but those charges have to do with money allegedly stolen from the SRC AND the donation.

Now to the amount of the donation. If we will recall, 1MDB has stumped up a total of US$1.83 billion for its supposed 40 percent equity in the joint venture called 1MDB PetroSaudi International JV.

We next have the highly irregular manner in which Goldman Sachs was required to raise funds and the inordinately high fees paid to that financial institution.

Then we have not only the IPPs (international power producers) acquired at well above their market value but also their supposed debt of RM6 billion taken over by 1MDB.

Then we have some US$2.3 billion supposedly paid by 1MDB to the International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) but which IPIC claimed to have not received.

Then we also have some US$850 million paid by 1MDB to Aabar Investment PJS Ltd, which is not the same entity as Aabar Investment PJS.

Interestingly, the one with the abbreviation ‘Ltd' was closed down soon after receipt of the moolah. Now put all that together and we can tell that the Sarawak Report's figure of more than RM4 billion in kopi-O is a realistic figure.

Ourvotesdecide: MACC in this statement only denies there were "37" charges. So it could be 36 or less or even more.

The simple question is this: Did the MACC recommended any charge against Najib? One charge is more than enough to remove Najib as PM.

Saya Pun Nak Cari Makan: A total of 37 charges against a PM? Another first in the country, if true.

Najib already scored a superb first in the world, being the only PM receiving a mind-boggling sum of RM2.6 billion from a very shy, but insanely generous Arab.

Since time immemorial, never has a world leader, be he a PM or president, received such huge sum in donation, but we only hear of cases whereby leaders embezzling billions of the country's wealth.

A good example is Ferdinand Marcos, plundering billions of the country's wealth and living luxuriously with his shoe-loving wife.

Nevertheless, there is always going to be a first for everything. Najib is the first PM ever to receive the largest amount in donation. This huge donation to him can go into the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest donation, and into Ripley's Believe it or Not.

Slumdog: This latest episode is proceeding according to the script. Next scene, insufficient evidence to bring any charges against Najib.

Final scene, no further action to be taken as no crime has been committed. As the curtain falls, there will be cheers among Umno supporters and many high fives.

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