BN’s Johari Abdul Ghani has been appointed as the chair of a special task force on 1MDB, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Explaining his decision to the Dewan Rakyat last night, Anwar said Johari, the Titiwangsa MP and former second finance minister, had raised many issues concerning 1MDB in the house, including the settlement between Goldman Sachs and the government.
Anwar said he did not agree with past decisions on 1MDB, adding that the previous administrations treated the issue very lightly.
Last week, Johari urged the government to probe those involved in the settlement, arguing that US$2.5 billion was too low.
Johari was the second finance minister between June 2016 and May 2018. He replaced Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah who eventually told the courts later that he was blocked from investigating 1MDB-related matters.
In July 2020, the Finance Ministry, then under the helm of Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, said the settlement involved US$2.5 billion in cash and US$1.4 billion in assets.
This was in relation to the “misappropriation” of funds involving three bond transactions handled by the bank. Goldman Sachs was engaged by 1MDB to raise US$6.5 billion in bonds between 2009 and 2014 which the country was still servicing.
Details of the settlement are scarce. In November 2020, the Muhyiddin Yassin administration said details of the settlement were bound by a confidentiality clause, amidst allegations that lawyers involved in the settlement were paid an extremely large fee. – Malaysiakini