KUALA LUMPUR, Jun 19 – The failure of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to call up anyone from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to provide any statements related to the alleged scandals until today proves that it has no case against the strategic development company, said MIC treasurer-general Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari. He said the latest allegations by DOJ were another political conspiracy of the opposition to topple a democratically-elected government.

“It is no secret that the opposition initiated the investigation by the US DOJ against 1MDB when they sent their henchmen to make a report in the United States. Without this complaint, there would not have been any investigation on 1MDB by the DOJ. Even then, until today, nobody from 1MDB has been called up by the DOJ to provide statements, evidence or be questioned. This clearly shows that the DOJ has no case against 1MDB,” Vell Paari said in a statement here today.

He said he was also concurred with Information and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak that opposition leaders who solicited assistance from foreign governments to topple a democratically elected leader of this country were traitors to the nation.

Vell Paari also questioned why DOJ only issued an updated version of the same civil lawsuit, which contained largely recycled information, now, almost a year after the original civil lawsuit was filed in July 2016, and said that it had not even been heard in court yet.

“It is truly astounding that the United Sates Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to make so many unproven allegations in its recently updated civil law suit against certain assets. The DOJ must show documentary evidence to prove the unsubstantiated allegations, otherwise the civil lawsuit can only be deemed a “dog and pony show”, purely for geopolitical purposes,” he said.

He also urged Malaysians not to be distracted and influenced by the unproven allegations that did not benefit the country. “In the spirit of Negaraku, let us focus on working together, to achieve our national transformation goals and ensure the country prospers for the benefit of the rakyat,”he said.

He said the success of Barisan Nasional government policies was evident in the 5.6 per cent GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017, which is the highest growth rate among Malaysia’s peers. Vell Paari said that under the leadership of 1MDB president and CEO Arul Kanda, 1MDB’s successful rationalisation exercise and the recent dispute settlement with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) had resulted in 1MDB resolving the majority of its previous challenges.

“Key projects started by 1MDB for the benefit of the nation continue to be executed, such as the development and upgrading of eight military and police bases as well as the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), ” he said. He also said that earlier this week, after many months of detailed negotiations, TRX executed an agreement with HSBC Bank, the world’s seventh largest bank, which had agreed to built its regional headquarters in the TRX. — Bernama

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