KUCHING, July 25: Goldman Sach’s proposed US$3.9 billion (RM16.6 billion) settlement over the 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) scandal is another direct benefit to the people of Malaysia from a change of government after the 2018 general elections.
Highlighting this, DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen pointed out that with this proposal and the previous RM2.3 billion return of fund to Malaysia, there is so far, a total of RM19 billion returned or to be returned to the country from the 1MDB scandal.
“This will not happen if there is no change of government in 2018. Before PH (Pakatan Harapan) took over the federal government, the then BN (Barisan Nasional) government’s position was that there is nothing wrong with 1MDB and that all were done in accordance with the law.
“No proceedings would have been taken to return the unlawful proceeds of 1MDB to the country if BN continues to be the federal government,” he said in a statement today.
Chong shared that a total sum of US$7.5 billion (approximately RM31 billion) was demanded by the PH government which was the loss of the people of Malaysia due to the 1MDB scandal.
“From this exorbitant amount of RM31 billion loss, all in, we only got back RM19 billion. There is still a shortfall of RM12 billion loss to the people which will never be recovered,” he emphasised.
From Sarawak’s perspective, Chong said one important fact that Sarawak must take serious note of was that Goldman Sach was also the arranger for the offshore loans borrowed by the Sarawak state government.
He alleged that it played a similar role in arranging for the issuance of multi-billion bonds for the Sarawak government.
“Given Goldman Sach’s track-record in 1MDB, the questions that all concerned Sarawakians must ask are: Was there any misappropriation of funds involved like that of the 1MDB bond? Was the proceeds of the bonds used properly and to the benefits of the people of Sarawak?
“For now, under the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak), all are presumed lawful and proper, just like the 1MDB case before the fall of the BN government in 2018. Is this the true facts of the matter? Only with a change of government of the state can one convincingly claim so,” he said.
Chong pointed out that this was the beauty of having a change of government, especially after an uninterrupted rule by the same parties for several decades.
“Though the PH government would have had much more positive results to show had it survived the ‘Sheraton Move’, at least with the 22-month PH government, amongst other things, we see the return of RM19 billion to the country,” he added.-DayakDaily
