Kit Siang vows to support Najib if ‘scapegoat’ claim proven

KUDAT: DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang pledged yesterday to defend and even “champion” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak if the latter can prove in five days that he was merely a “scapegoat” in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and RM2.6 billion donation controversies.

Lim said the “scapegoat” claim, made on Tuesday by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) president Datuk M. Kayveas, was most “astonishing”, especially when both controversies are linked in some way to the prime minister, whether direct or indirect.

“However, if Najib can prove to me in the next five days that he is in fact the ‘scapegoat’ of the twin mega scandals, I am prepared to champion and defend him,” he said in a statement yesterday after attending the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Where is the RM2.6 billion?” kopitiam ceramahs here.

Should Najib fail to prove this, Lim said the prime minister should then give a full explanation on both controversies next Monday when Parliament reconvenes for the last of the three-day ministerial winding-up of debates on Budget 2016.

On Tuesday during the PPP Deepavali open house in Brickfields, Kayveas claimed that Najib was just being made a scapegoat in the 1MDB scandal and that if any fault were to be borne by anyone over any purported wrongdoing, it should be the firm’s management board and not the prime minister.

He also dismissed the uproar over the RM2.6 billion political donation controversy, saying such contributions to politicians were commonplace.

He also added that he was a recipient to such a donation when organising the open house.