Did Rosmah Ask US To Call Off Their FBI Probe Against 1MDB?
The Asia Sentinel has alleged that PM Najib Razak's wife Rosmah Mansor had contacted US Ambassador Joseph Y. Yun to strongarm him into calling off an investigation related to 1MDB.
By Sadho Ram — 31 Mar 2016, 04:22 AM
The Asia Sentinel, in a report published on 28 March, alleged that:
Rosmah Mansor has repeatedly called US Ambassador Joseph Y. Yun in the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in a vain attempt to get the United States Attorney Preet Bharara for the Southern District of New York to call off his investigation into financial dealings involving the scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund.
asiasentinel.com
The website also alleged that "the story" of Rosmah's attempts to strongarm the US investigation has been "circulating widely in Kuala Lumpur's small diplomatic circles", citing unnamed sources
The report also claimed that Joseph apparently told Rosmah that the United States Attorney operated so independently that not even President Barack Obama would be able to influence the probe
It quoted an unnamed source as saying: "She (Rosmah) has been told, 'If you have done nothing wrong, don't worry about it. The United States is a country of laws'."
Furthermore, the Asia Sentinel, while citing someone who they claim is a "longtime observer of local politics, claimed that Najib and his family "aren't scared of anything in Malaysia, but are scared of this guy Preet Bharara", the Pakistani-born US law enforcement officer who has prosecuted nearly 100 Wall Street executives.
Following the report, which the Minister of Communication and Multimedia Salleh criticised as being based on rumours, access to Asia Sentinel in Malaysia has been blocked by the MCMC
Speaking to Malaysiakini, he described this as unethical journalism, where reports are published based on unverified claims. Terming the article as “preposterous and unfair”, the minister questioned Asia Sentinel’s motive in publishing such allegations without verification.
“Furthermore, was there an attempt to seek a response from her or Malaysian authorities regarding these claims? This article is based on allegations from unidentified sources and gossip. To me, this is just another attempt to tarnish the reputation of the prime minister and his wife,” he added.
malaysiakini.com
However, the US embassy in KL has dismissed the said report:
In an email communique to Malaysiakini, the embassy said it had no record of any inquiries from the Asia Sentinel regarding the matter.
"We have seen reports alleging that Prime Minister Najib’s wife called ambassador Yun multiple times. We do not comment on diplomatic discussions, but we can confirm Ambassador Yun has not spoken about the issues in the Asia Sentinel report with the prime minister’s wife," it added.
malaysiakini.com