Salleh said the so-called revelation of WSJ on July 2, 2015, also triggered the setting up of a Special Task Force, the purpose of which, according to the announcement, was to investigate the allegation that Najib had stolen US$700 million or RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s money and had transferred it to his personal bank accounts.
He said according to what WSJ said, the investigation had started before July 2, 2015, and was not the result of WSJ’s ‘expose’ on that date.
“And The Wall Street Journal confirmed it was in possession of documents related to that probe (which means the investigation had already been launched before 2nd July 2015 if there are already documents related to the probe).
“This in itself sounds very suspicious because The Wall Street Journal said its 2nd July 2015 report is based on the investigation, while the official statement from the Special Task Force is that it was set up to investigate The Wall Street Journal‘s 2nd July 2015 ‘expose’.
“So which came first? And if The Wall Street Journal‘s 2nd July 2015 came first and the launch of the Special Task Force came after, as what we are being told, this would mean The Wall Street Journal was given documents that were not based on any investigation but were planted to slander the Prime Minister.”
Najib has publicly said that he promotes ministers for blind loyalty rather than their abilities.
He must by now have learnt to understand the disadvantages of being served by fools.
The special task forces (there were four) were set up after Sarawak Report revealed the massive misappropriation of 1MDB money assigned to the PetroSaudi ‘joint venture in February 2015.
It was these task forces who uncovered the rest of the information about the money coming into the Prime Minister’s accounts AS PART OF THEIR INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE MONEY MISSING FROM 1MDB. Sarawak Report and the WSJ released this information in early July.
Let us hope the explanation releases Salleh from his muddle and his ill-conceived criticisms of the Wall Street Journal, who only hire people if they are clever.