JOHOR BARU, March 5 — Minister of International Trade and Industries Datuk Seri Azmin Ali today denied claims that the 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) debts did not affect the administration.
He said that during Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) administration, the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had to contend with over RM43 billion in debts, with a chunk of it related to 1MDB.
“The legacy debt for 2022 is RM43 billion, that is only to serve the interest, not yet the principal of the debt. Among the debt serviced was the 1MDB debts.
“Recently, there’s an individual who tried to deny this. Don’t let the greed of one or two people who wants to rob the people’s money be kept in,” he told a Dialogue Sessions with the National Recovery Council Chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin here today.
The dialogue session was attended by representatives from Businesses Associations and Chambers of Commerce in Johor Bahru.
It is believed that Azmin was referring to former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who had last week said that 1MDB debts should not be used as an excuse that it has damaged the country’s financial position.
He said the country’s debt has been increasing after Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) took over following Barisan Nasional’s (BN) defeat in the 14th general election.
Najib pointed out that the country’s debt rose to more than 63 per cent from 48.7 per cent against the GDP, which is more than the ceiling of 55 per cent that was set by the BN’s administration.
He said the subsequent governments after BN had also never paid 1MDB debts.
