Why are police slow on 1MDB probe, asks DAP

DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua said the controversies surrounding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) should be reason enough for police to act swiftly. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 16, 2015.Police have been "remarkably silent" on the progress of their investigations into 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), an opposition lawmaker said today, noting that it has been more than a month since an Umno man lodged a police report against the debt-ridden government-owned company.DAP national publicity chief Tony Pua said the controversies surrounding the strategic development fund and its impact on the economy should be reason enough for police to act swiftly."Given the gravity of the situation and the impact of the RM42 billion debt accumulated in just five years on the country’s economy, it is important to find out from the police if investigations have started," he said today.Pua said it had been exactly five weeks since the police report was filed, and asked if police had taken statements from 1MDB's management since.Batu Kawan Umno deputy division head Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan lodged a police report against 1MDB late last year, calling for a “detailed and comprehensive" investigation, and urged authorities to interrogate 1MDB’s directors and representatives of any company that might be implicated in the scandal.Khairuddin said he had lodged the report against 1MDB and its board of directors after studying various reports in national and international print media as well as online media.These reports “clearly proved" there were weaknesses in 1MDB’s management of taxpayers’ funds, he had said.Despite having met personally with the chairman of 1MDB board of advisors, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Khairuddin said he remained unconvinced.Yesterday, he lodged another report against 1MDB, this time with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).Pua in his statement today said the MACC should also conduct a thorough probe, “in particular, over the significantly higher than normal interest rates paid for the 1MDB bonds as well as the excess of 10% 'commissions, fees and charges’ paid to Goldman Sachs International".Pua also contrasted police reactions to Khairuddin's report on 1MDB with the swift action taken against lawyer Eric Paulsen's tweet in which the Lawyers for Liberty co-founder had accused a federal Islamic authority of spreading extremism."The police have been remarkably silent on (1MDB), as opposed to others like Eric Paulsen’s one tweet," Pua said."Paulsen's tweet was given very special attention by no less than the Inspector-General Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar himself over Twitter."Pua said Malaysians were hoping that the 1MDB scandal would not become "like many other cases involving Barisan Nasional-related personalities where it is classified 'No Further Action (NFA)'." – January 16, 2015.