‘Accept Lim’s challenge if you’ve nothing to hide’

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyers for Liberty has called upon former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to take up the challenge from DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang to reveal everything on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) controversy.

Its executive director, Latheefa Koya, said if Najib had nothing to hide, as he had claimed all this while, he should accept the challenge to engage in a parliamentary debate.

She said as a former premier, Najib had a responsibility to explain the allegations that had been levelled at him.

“(It is) not just (a) good (thing to do), it is his duty to disclose all. (It is something) which he should have done a long time ago.

“A motion could be filed in Parliament to enable the debate to take place,” said Latheefa when contacted by the New Straits Times.

Lim had challenged Najib to use the Dewan Rakyat platform today to explain the failure of the latter’s administration in dispelling allegations that it was a global kleptocracy following the 1MDB case.

Lim wrote in his blog about the need for Najib to explain why his administration did not take any action to counter then United States Attorney-General Jeff Sessions’ public condemnation of the corruption scandal.

Latheefa said despite the opportunity for Najib to explain the allegations, she believed that he would not do so.

“It is quite obvious that he will never agree to it and I don’t think Lim Kit Siang himself expects Najib to take it (the challenge) up.

“They have been using underhand tricks to prevent the 1MDB truth from coming out.

“This included putting the Public Accounts Committee report under the Official Secrets Act and the (Dewan Rakyat) speaker rejecting 1MDB questions.”

When challenging Najib in his blog writings, Lim had claimed that the Malaysian External Intelligence Organisation had sent a letter to the US to seek its backing for Najib’s government in the run-up to the 14th General Election.

Lim said not only had Najib’s administration failed to make a hue and cry at international forums to clear Malaysia’s name, but also purportedly went out of its way to bar national institutions, especially Parliament and the media, from probing and debating the issue, among others.