Najib: Board had fiduciary duty to act in the best interest

PETALING JAYA: The 1MDB board has a duty and responsibility to provide advice on the running of the investment fund, says a spokesman for Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said the former prime minister did not say during an interview with Reuters that the 1MDB board was to be blamed for anything that happened.

He said, in the interview that was picked up by the local media, Najib was reported to have stated that he blamed the board for what went wrong, and that it was incumbent upon the board to tell him so.

“Najib would like to clarify that during the interview, what he said was any board had a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest.

“Further clarification on this will be made at the appropriate time,” the spokesman said in a statement yesterday.

In a separate statement, the Umno strategic communications unit hit out at Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, accusing him of sidelining his responsibilities and embarking on revenge politics.

It said Lim was focused on exposing the previous government’s wrongdoings but stopped short of investigating scandals implicating him and current Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“Lim Kit Siang is also supporting this move and is complicit with Dr Mahathir in their revenge politics against Barisan Nasional, especially Umno,” it said.

The unit said that after announcing that Pakatan Harapan could not fulfil its manifesto in 100 days as pledged, it was now trying to distract the public by saying that more of Barisan’s misdeeds needed to be revealed.

It said that the re-opening of investigations into the high-profile murder of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu and Teoh Beng Hock was to give the ruling coalition a political platform, adding that smaller cases were ignored.

“Why didn’t Kit Siang order a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Memali incident, Forex scandal, claims that Dr Mahathir has RM83bil in offshore funds, and the wealth of his three children?” it asked.

It also questioned whether these cases would be dropped after Pakatan replaced the top heads of the judiciary.