In a blog post today, former information minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin said Zeti is now in a tough spot after the central bank was instructed yesterday by lawyers representing Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor to conduct a probe on the alleged leak of their client’s confidential banking information.
The prime minister’s wife had urged for the probe within 72 hours from yesterday after links were drawn between her account and the 1MDB scandal in the latest round of allegations published by whistleblower site Sarawak Report.
“In my view, the integrity and reliability of Zeti who has all this time been respected both locally and internationally... is now put in a challenging position, one that involves public confidence in Bank Negara as well as how the world sees Malaysia.
“This should not happen if the country’s finances were handled by a Finance Ministry that is run efficiently,” he wrote.
“Zeti should not have her reputation contaminated in a mission that has already raised the doubts of many and should resign her post before going in too deep into this ‘mission impossible’,” the former minister added.
Speculation over deposits of some RM2 million into an Affin Bank Berhad account said to belong to Rosmah spread after the London-based whistleblower site Sarawak Report questioned the origin of the funds in a post on Thursday.
Sarawak Report has been casting aspersions on cash deposits into personal bank accounts purportedly owned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as well, around the same time US-based daily Wall Street Journal ran an explosive report claiming nearly US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) was moved out of 1MDB in the months leading to the May 5, 2013 general elections.
Najib has denied taking funds from 1MDB for “personal gain” and his lawyers have since asked the WSJ to state if the newspaper is accusing the prime minister of misappropriating funds.
Yesterday, the special government task force investigating the debt-riddled state investor confirmed that it was investigating Rosmah’s bank account.
Shortly after, Rosmah’s lawyers issued a press statement to deny the claims linking recent cash deposits into their client’s account to 1MDB.
In a statement, law firm Messrs Noorhajran Mohd Noor confirmed the bank account in Affin Bank Berhad belonged to Rosmah, adding that she had opened it 31 years ago in 1984 when she was working with Island & Peninsular Sdn Bhd and back when the bank was called Perwira Habib Bank.
The law firm also urged BNM to immediately or within 72 hours conduct a probe on the alleged leak of information regarding their client’s account.
Zainuddin, however, noted that the existence of the account belonging to Rosmah in itself indicates that not all the allegations published in Sarawak Report are untrue.
He also questioned why the government taskforce had not revealed much earlier that it was already investigating Rosmah’s account.
“If the excuse is that the matter is still under investigation, then why not hold on to this principle until the probe is over?” he asked.
No comments:
Post a Comment