PETALING JAYA: An audio recording released by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today revealed a heated conversation between former prime minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor over the former’s approach to the 1MDB scandal when news of it first broke.
Rosmah had called Najib on July 27, 2016, and after a brief greeting, she could be heard saying: “Apa cerita? (What’s up?) Can I advise you on something?”
Rosmah then told Najib to take charge of the situation, adding that he was the prime minister (at the time). “I don’t like this. Darling, you are the prime minister. You lead,” she said.
MACC chief commissioner Latheefa Koya said the call was made about a week after the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had filed a civil forfeiture suit to seize US$1 billion believed to be embezzled from 1MDB.
Rosmah also seemed unhappy over former MACC chief Abu Kassim Mohamed who had come out with several statements and took photographs with “Pak Lah” or Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and who appeared to make Najib and Rosmah looked like “villains”.
“They make it seem like he (Abu Kassim) is the hero and you are the villain. And all of these five people (in Najib’s office), can’t they see that their priority is you?” she asked Najib.
Najib calmly replied that he had already started to take action on the matter.
“I allowed Azwan to make a statement and his impact is good already,” he said.
During the press conference, Latheefa said MACC believed Najib was referring to Umno Youth vice-president, Khairul Azwan Harun.
The press conference today revealed a series of nine audio recordings implicating high-ranking government officials and foreign dignitaries from the United Arab Emirates in an alleged attempt to cover-up the 1MDB scandal.
In the same phone call, Najib told Rosmah he had already signed a letter appointing Dzulkifli Ahmad to replace Abu Kassim as MACC chief commissioner.
Dzulkifli was named the new MACC chief a few days later, on Aug 1, 2016.
Meanwhile, Rosmah told reporters in court today that her lawyers would look into the matter.
Rosmah said this after she attended her corruption case at the High Court here.
She was accused of receiving RM5 million as bribe from Saidi Abang Samsudin, the managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd through her aide Rizal Mansor.
Her trial will start on Feb 3.
Below is the transcript of the conversation between Rosmah and Najib:
Rosmah: Hi…
Najib: Hi…
Rosmah: I like your voice too. Can I advise you something
Najib: Ya, hang on. Anything?
Rosmah: Please don’t listen to.. You know why they tell you to slow down on Abu Kassim and Abu Kassim is making statements based on Vienna Convention, ambil gambar dengan Pak Lah, eh we are making him look like a hero, and you are the villain you see, and all these five people can they see that their first priority is you not anybody else.
Najib: (Inaudible)
Rosmah: Your office la, Shahlan dah convince… Tengku dah convince… like kita semua villain.
Najib: No, no no, I allowed Azwan to make the statement, dan impact dah bagus dah.
Rosmah: Ok Azwan, fine. Today, Abu Kassim and Berita Harian why they allow Abu Kassim to take gambar dengan Pak Lah. And he got the cheek to say Pak Lah and everybody else except you. That’s not fair, so please darling.
Najib: Mmm, understand.
Rosmah: Please tell him, go by you.
Najib: No, I’ve already signed the letter for Dzul’s appointment
Rosmah: And Abu Zahab can make statement must wait for, we know they have lobbied.
Najib: Abu Zahab dah buat statement biarlah.
Rosmah: Abu Zahab dalam Berita Harian, does he know what he is talking about or not.
Najib: Tu lah dia, ok ok.
Rosmah: I don’t like this. Darling, you are the prime minister, you should take charge, not anybody else, you have goons around you to advise you. I told Shahlan, kenapa you nak tolong, kenapa tak tolong last week.
I said I don’t understand because orang dah buat complain against Abu Kassim, he’s in trouble, baru you nak datang, Kenapa tak cakap one week ago. Kita sakit hati, sakit badan.
Najib: Mmmmmm
Rosmah: I said the thing is not difficult. They have to trust us,as much as we have to trust them.
Najib: That’s right, that’s why Amhari told me, I said you go and talk to Khaldun, there’s no point going for arbitration, if you go for arbitration everyone will get hurt. You see I can speak to crown prince, but Arab punya style, they will go back and say I need to consult Khaldun, balik pada situ.
Rosmah: Cannot blame him la, that’s their budaya, so we have to work around the culture, maybe Khaldun should come here and talk to you. That’s how I feel, not just talking over the telephone, that doesn’t work.
Najib: We can invite them here.
Rosmah: Invite them here and settle once and for all. Please invite him.
Najib: That’s a good idea, we will invite him here.
Rosmah: In the meantime, we can sort out Riza. Riza punya masalah, just somewhere along the lines, not completed.
Najib: Yes, sure
Rosmah: (Inaudible)
Najib: Ok I’ll suggest to Amhari to invite him here, ya.
Rosmah: After that you say, tell Crown Prince, Khaldun is here, settle once and for all. We’ve wasted one week.
Najib: Not wasted, a lot of things are moving. Dia orang ni, they want to see some movement on the other side, on the Chinese side is moving already.
Rosmah: Not many things can talk over the phone.
Invite him here immediately, I think he will be very happy, crown prince wants to solve this. They are not the type to sit down and talk to you.
Najib: Ok, we can do that. I’ll speak to Amhari after this. Tell him to invite Khaldun.
Rosmah: Or you speak to Khaldun, pleae come here, we sort everything at one go. Tie one knot. Tunggu Malam, Tunggu Siang. There’s a 24-hour gap. Please, Darling.
Najib: We can invite them here, sure. Ok, I’ll speak to Amhari.
-FMT