Around 40 opposition leaders and MPs walk from Parliament building to Bank Negara HQ to hand over memorandum to central bank governor Muhammad Ibrahim.
KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition leaders and MPs today made a public statement by walking two kilometres to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) here, to request the central bank to re-open investigations into the alleged mismanagement of state-owned 1MDB.
Armed with a memorandum addressed to BNM governor Muhammad Ibrahim, the MPs clad in formal attire left the Parliament building at 9am and headed for the BNM headquarters, a walk that took around 35 minutes.
“We are going to BNM to hand over a memorandum that contains new discoveries related to 1MDB. We want the BNM governor to take the appropriate action on this,” said Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul who lead the march.
The memorandum also contained information made public through the United States’ Department of Justice’s (DoJ) 1MDB-related civil suits, which alleged that billions of ringgit were embezzled from the firm.
Around 40 opposition leaders and MPs joined in the walk, including PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, Amanah’s Khalid Samad, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president Darell Leiking and PAS’ Mahfuz Omar.
But only 10 of them were allowed to enter the BNM HQ to hand over the memorandum. The others waited outside.
The opposition’s call to have an emergency session in the Dewan Rakyat last week, to discuss the DoJ’s claims was rejected.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said this was because the matter had already been addressed in the last Dewan Rakyat sitting in March.
Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, in explaining his decision to reject the opposition’s questions on 1MDB, said it was because discussions on the issue were subjudice since it related to civil suits filed by the DoJ.