Kit Siang: Will Najib swear over 1MDB kickback claims, too?

Following his willingness to swear to God that he was not involved in the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has been challenged to make a similar oath to refute having received kickbacks from several 1MDB bonds.

The challenge was mounted by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today.

“Would Najib make a sumpah laknat to deny the latest allegation by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that he was a recipient of kickbacks from bonds raised by former Goldman Sachs executive Tim Leissner for 1MDB in the monstrous kleptocratic 1MDB scandal?” he asked in a statement.

Lim later issued a clarification, stating that he simply wondered if Najib was willing to do so and did not intend to challenge him.

"As a non-Muslim, I will not issue such a challenge," he added. 

A sumpah laknat is a Muslim oath that beseeches God to curse those who are in the wrong.

The SEC named Najib as one of the recipients of bribes from Leissner. 

Leissner was found to have misappropriated more than US$2.7 billion after helping to raise US$6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB in 2012. The SEC has since banned him for life from the securities industry.

Najib is at present on trial for the 1MDB scandal.

Aside from 1MDB, the Pekan MP is also facing a fresh allegation that it was he who had ordered for Altantuya to be murdered, back in 2006 when he was the deputy prime minister. 

Yesterday, he said he was willing to swear a sumpah laknat to deny the claim.

His former security personnel, Azilah Hadri, who is on death row for the Mongolian national’s murder, had revealed such in a statutory declaration. Azilah also urged the Federal Court for a re-trial. 

The Bar Council has since called for a new investigation into Azilah’s claims.

Lim supported the call.

“Maybe all lawyers and justice-loving Malaysians should speak up to call for a re-investigation into the whole process of investigation, prosecution and trial of Altantuya’s murder,” the Iskandar Puteri MP proposed.