KUALA LUMPUR, JULY 9 — Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong has defended the government’s handling of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, saying Malaysia would have faced significantly greater financial and reputational losses had there been no change of government in 2018.
Speaking in Parliament in response to a supplementary question from Chong Chieng Jen, Liew said the question of whether the country’s losses from the 1MDB scandal would have increased without the 2018 administration change was both relevant and important.
According to Liew, the total cost of the 1MDB scandal currently stands at RM51.4 billion. He argued that if the previous administration under former prime minister Najib Razak had remained in power after 2018, no meaningful action would have been taken to address the scandal, leaving the government to bear the full financial burden.
He noted that since 2018, intensive efforts by the Ministry of Finance and various agencies have resulted in the successful recovery of assets worth RM31.3 billion. However, he acknowledged that approximately RM20.1 billion is still believed to be unrecoverable, representing a substantial loss to the country.
Liew said the scandal also imposed significant indirect costs on Malaysia, including legal expenses, financial advisory fees and years of effort spent tracing and recovering assets that should never have been lost.
He added that public funds used to resolve issues arising from the scandal could otherwise have been channelled towards programmes benefiting Malaysians.
As an example, Liew said the government was forced to allocate RM13 billion from the 2023 development budget to repay a US$3 billion 1MDB bond guaranteed by the previous administration. He said the payment accounted for 13.1 per cent of the country’s total development expenditure that year.
Beyond the financial impact, Liew stressed that the scandal had also damaged Malaysia’s international reputation.
He said that for nearly a decade, Malaysia had attracted global attention because of the 1MDB controversy, causing embarrassment to Malaysians overseas and those engaging with foreign investors.
Liew said Malaysia’s international standing began to improve after the MADANI Government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim took office, adding that the country has since regained greater international respect and credibility..
— MINUTESMY
