Dr M says losses must be accounted for

Turning the table: Tunku Abdul Aziz giving a press statement on Dr Mahathir’s administration.

PETALING JAYA: 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) cannot be absolved of any wrongdoing even if it is able to pay its debt through a bailout or by selling its assets, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The former prime minister said 1MDB could not be considered free of the charge unless it could account for the billions of ringgit that it had lost.

“In business, money can be lost through bad investments or bad management. That is acceptable though the CEO and managers would be sacked.

“But when money is lost and the management cannot explain where it went and how it disappeared, then management would still be responsible even if there is a bailout or the debts are paid,” he said in his latest blog posting.

He also took a swipe at the large crowd that turned up during Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s travels across the country to explain about 1MDB and other government policies in the past weeks.

“We all saw such demonstrations before the 13th general election. The result was worse than the 12th GE.

“Those demonstrations do not translate into support for Najib. They come because of various incentives,” he said.

In a related development, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission advisory board chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim has urged the Government to look into alleged financial scandals during Dr Mahathir’s tenure as prime minister.

“Reopen the Bank Negara foreign market exchange case to establish whether any laws were broken by the Mahathir administration in using Bank Negara reserves for currency speculation,’’ he said.