Even the Arabs don’t believe PM’s ‘donation’ tale

Report: Saudi minister doesn’t think Najib’s RM2.6b is a donation

Odin Tajué: Please, people, let us not read things literally all the time.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said he believed that the money was from a private Saudi citizen, and that it went to an investment in Malaysia.

He also accepted Malaysian attorney-general (AG) Mohamed Apandi Ali’s opinion that there was no wrongdoing committed.

Al-Jubeir was speaking in a diplomatic way. One of the reasons he did that has to be his desire to not cause any offence to anyone.

He said he “believed”, and did not present his statement as fact. When we say “we believe something,” what is meant is that “we think that something is so, but we are not 100 percent certain”.

However, you could say that in this case we are actually 100 percent – or at least, 99.99 percent – certain.

Furthermore, the word “investment” is enclosed within inverted commas. This means it is not an investment, or not necessarily an investment.

In any case, an investment can mean many things. It does not only mean a business venture undertaken in the hope to make profits. It can also mean such things as making a cash/asset/service outlay in the hope pf getting something in return.

Along the same line, the phrase “a business deal” can also mean many things and not just the normal, legal business arrangement.

Al-Jubeir could not challenge Apandi’s declaration that there was no wrongdoing committed, for the simple reason that he would not be familiar with Malaysian law. Apandi is supposed to be. Therefore, he had no choice but to say that he accepted Apandi’s decision.

Besides, there is no need for him to bother about what is happening in Malaysia. His only concern is to clear the name or image of the Saudi royal family. He has implied very clearly that the money was not a donation from the Saudi royal family. That is all that matters.

Voice: From the onset, nobody believed that the RM2.6 billion was a donation. No country or party will donate or give out such a huge sum of money without a reason or condition.

As things become more confusing, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has a duty and responsibility to come out and clear the air, or to come clean on the truth behind the so-called “donation”.

Saya Pun Nak Cari Makan: Remember, people are not stupid. The Saudis are the custodians of Islam’s holiest places, and to live up to the expectation of the status endowed by God, they will have to tell the truth.

If Najib has foresight, he should claim that the donation had come from Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe, being in the same league as Najib, would dance to whatever tune Najib plays.

Justine Gow: Lies are inherently messy. The degree of difficulty in engineering a perfect lie (that is, one that will never be found out) increases exponentially with the number of people involved in it.

When powerful people find that they can no longer get away with their lies, they will start to abuse their power to push their lies through – mark my words.

Headhunter: Yes, even the Arabs don’t believe such an Arabian tale.

BernieBaby: Why didn’t the Saudi foreign minister go through formal government-to-government channels to reveal this information? He went direct to The New York Times. How despicable! Right, Zahid?

Doc: It seems to me that there is an international conspiracy to target Najib by inflicting coordinated attacks on him and his administration by highlighting his involvement in this 1MDB scandal.

The Swiss AG, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Hong Kong authorities, the British, the Singaporeans and now the Saudis, seem to be joining forces in boiling Najib in a pressure cooker.

I don’t think in modern history has there ever been such a joint effort involving many nations working together to discredit and bring down a leader of a country.

I am willing to sponsor free Panadol for Apandi and Najib for the recurrent headaches they must be having with more and more international law agencies or individual government officials (for example, the Saudis) cementing Najib’s alleged personal involvement amounting to gross corruption in this international 1MDB scandal fiasco.

VP Biden: What are the AG and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) going to do with this latest news? This is what Malaysians want to know.

Jratnam: Yes, it looks like an investment from 1MDB which went one big circle and landed in the PM’s personal bank account.

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