Najib should give meaning to his Aidilfitri address to avoid slanderous statements by ensuring that his government and UMNO/BN do not become the father of lies, fake news and false information

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his televised Aidilfitra address has warned against slanderous statements disseminated by “irresponsible parties” especially on social media.

I support Najib’s call and urge the Prime Minister to give meaning to his Aidilfitri address to avoid slanderous statements by ensuring that his government and the UMNO/Barisan Nasional coalition which he leads do not become the father of lies, fake news and false information.

Recently, there are more and more examples of the UMNO/BN government and coalition guilty of the heinous sin of hypocrisy, preaching the iniquity of fake news and false information on the one hand while at the same time concocting fake news and false information on the other.

Without going back to the past where UMNO/BN were guilty of the most heinous lies and falsehoods to demonise DAP and DAP leaders, like alleging that I had been responsible for the May 13,1969 riots and had led illegal processions through the streets of Kuala Lumpur resulting in the May 13 riots although I was never in Kuala Lumpur at the relevant period, I will cite three recent examples of such lies, falsehoods, fake news and false information.

The first recent lie and slander perpetrated by UMNO/BN government/coalition:

1. A commentary on the BN BackBackbenchers Council (BNBBC) portal uploaded five days ago on June 21 which claimed that allegation that the US$27.3 million (RM116 million) pink diamond necklace, acquired using stolen funds and gifted to the “wife of Malaysian Official 1”, does not exist in the US Department of Justice third civil forfeiture suit on 1MDB.

The BNBBC portal, https://www.bnbbc.my/berlian-hanya-mainan-persepsi-portal-malaysiakini/, which represents all the Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament, claimed that the jewellery storhy was a creation of news portal Malaysiakini.

This is a downright lie, as any reading of the DOJ kleptocratic suits would show that the pink diamond necklace allegation was specifically mentioned in Paragraph 346 of the updated 958-Paragraph DOJ forfeiture kleptocratic actions and in a four-page 17-Paragraph section entitled “Low Arrange to Purchase a 22-carat Pink Diamond Necklace for the Wife of MO1 Using Diverted 2013 Bond Proceeds”.

Paragraph 346 of the US DOJ suits reads:

“346. As discussed in Part VI.CC below, a portion of the $620 million that MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 “returned” to the Tanore Account was passed through various additional accounts controlled by TAN and LOW and was ultimately used to purchase a 22-carat pink diamond pendant and necklace for the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1. The necklace was commissioned in July 2013, after the jeweler met with LOW, HUSSEINY, and the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 in Monaco. The purchase price of $27,300,000 was paid on or about September 10, 2013, using funds traceable to the $620 million payment from MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 to Tanore.”

Only reference to the following six paragraphs in the four-page 17-Paragraph section on the pink diamond necklace will suffice:

“847. Funds traceable to the diverted proceeds of the 2013 bond sale were used to purchase a 22-carat pink diamond, set in a diamond necklace, (“22-CARAT PINK DIAMOND NECKLACE”) for the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1. The stone and necklace were purchased from New York-based jeweler and jewelry designer Lorraine Schwartz Inc., which specializes in high-end bespoke diamond jewelry. The total purchase price for the stone and necklace was $27,300,000.

“848. On or about June 2, 2013, LOW texted Lorraine Schwartz (“Schwartz”), the proprietor of Lorraine Schwartz, Inc.: “Need a 18 carrot pink heart diamond vivid or slightly short of vivid. On diamond necklace urgent.” By early July of 2013, Schwartz had identified a pink diamond available for purchase, and she discussed with LOW the logistics of making it available for viewing by him and others. Initially, LOW suggested that he would send HUSSEINY to pick up the diamond from Schwartz in New York. Ultimately, Schwartz agreed to show the diamond to LOW and to the “client” in Monaco. At this time, Schwartz did not know the identity of the “client.”

“849. On or about July 5, 2013, Schwartz traveled to Monaco and met LOW aboard the Topaz, one of the largest private yachts in the world. LOW and TAN had chartered the 147-meter yacht for seven days in early July 2013, and according to an invoice submitted to Falcon Bank, they paid €3.5 million for the rental, using proceeds of the 2013 bonds.

“850. Aboard the Topaz, Schwartz showed the pink diamond to a group of people that included LOW, HUSSEINY, the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1, and one of her friends (“Malaysian Friend”). The group discussed the design of the necklace to hold the 22-carat pink diamond, which itself would be made of smaller diamonds.

“851. On or about September 10, 2013, an email from TAN’s account, with the subject “22 CARAT PINK DIAMOND,” was sent to Schwartz Inc. advising: “pls ensure design, stone, etc. is ready for the VVIP Lorraine met (without stating names) as the VVIP will be in nyc on 23 sept.” An employee of Lorraine Schwartz Inc. responded that the necklace would not be ready by then but that Schwartz would like to “meet the client [to] insure [sic] correct measurement . . . and discuss any final touches needed” on the necklace.

“852. On or about September 28, 2013, Schwartz met again with LOW and the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 in a hotel suite in the Mandarin Time Warner in New York in order to show them the layout of the necklace that Schwartz had designed. Travel records confirm that the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 was in New York City at this time. Travel records show that on September 27, 2013, LOW flew from Las Vegas to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on his jet. Other passengers on that flight included AZIZ, TAN and McFarland…..

“863. The finished 22-CARAT PINK DIAMOND NECKLACE, which included the 22-carat pink diamond as a pendant, was delivered to the Malaysian Friend in Hong Kong on or about March 7, 2014, so that she could deliver it to the wife of MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1 in Kuala Lumpur. Records reflect that the Malaysian Friend accepted receipt of the necklace “[o]n behalf of” Blackrock.

The only truth in the BNBBC website commentary is a Quranic verse, stating that slander is a bigger sin than murder - Firman Allah SWT dalam Surah Al Baqarah, ayat 217 “Dan fitnah itu lebih besar dosanya daripada membunuh”.

The second recent lie and slander perpetrated by UMNO/BN government/coalition:

2. Five days after the US DOJ filed its third kleptocratic actions to forfeit a total of US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets out of US$4.5 billion 1MDB money-laundering, the Barisan Nasional strategic media director and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the insinuation of impropriety of Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor as “wife of MO1”, implying that she had committed a wrongdoing, was unfair targeting and asked why the US DOJ implicated Rosmah as “wife of MO1”, when it had no plans to seize the 28 jewellery items, which included a pink diamond necklace valued at US$27.3 million?

Abdul Rahman was guilty of downright lie, as the US DOJ did not make an insinuation that 1MDB funds were stolen and money-laundered to purchase the US$27.3 million pink diamond necklace and other 27 pieces of jewellery for Rosmah, but gave facts and figures in the US DOJ forfeiture suits, all in black and white, and there could be nothing more specific about the allegations of money-laundering and diversion of 1MDB funds for lavish private and personal high life.

The third recent lie and slander perpetrated by UMNO/BN government/coalition:

3. The lie and slander spread not only by UMNO propagandists but now also by the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang is that the US DOJ kleptocratic suits to forfeit 1MDB-linked assets in United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland are a form of foreign intervention in Malaysia.

I fully agree with the AMANAH MP for Sepang, Mohahed Hanipa Maidin, who said that Hadi’s remark “smacks of utter ignorance”, demonstrates the “failure of the PAS President to grasp the whole issue of 1MDB” and “such careless criticism only tarnishes any residual image of PAS”.

Were the 36 Ministers in Cabinet (including Najib himself) totally remiss, unpatriotic and disloyal in failing to protest against the US Government if the US DOJ kleptocratic actions, first filed 11 months ago, were foreign intervention in Malaysia’s domestic affairs?

Did Najib, who attended the Arab-Islamic-US Summit with US President Trump in Riyadh in May, protest to the US President about the US DOJ “foreign intervention” in Malaysia?

Credit must be given to the Foreign Minister, Datuk Anifah Aman who said as far back as August last year that the US DOJ actios were no US intervention in Malaysia’s domestic affairs.

Anifah explained that the DOJ action was due to the transactions taking place in the US.

He said: “The US is investigating the matter because there were transactions that happened in their country”.

Are PAS President and UMNO leaders suggesting that Anifah is not fit to be Foreign Minister as he had betrayed national interests in holding that the US DOJ action is no foreign intervention in Malaysia’s internal affairs?

Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation, do not want any foreign invervention in Malaysia’s domestic affairs.

I also do not believe that the overwhelming majority of UMNO and PAS members will support corruption and Malaysia becoming a kleptocracy although there is an attempt to disseminate lies and falsehoods by UMNO/BN propagandists and Hadi that the US DOJ kleptocratic suits represent a foreign intervention in Malaysia’s internal affairs.

Lim Kit Siang DAP Parliamentary Leader & MP for Gelang Patah