Initiate investigation on previous administration's letter to CIA: LGE

KUALA LUMPUR: The government wants an extensive investigation to be initiated over a letter purportedly written by the intelligence unit under the previous Prime Minister's Department to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) just days prior to the 14th General Election.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said this was pertinent as it involved national sovereignty, describing the letter – which sought the United States' support for Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's administration even if Barisan Nasional won by a marginal seat – as inviting foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
"This letter raised so many questions, including how was it allowed to be penned and sent to the CIA, on whose order was it done, and can an officer pen such letter without receiving any orders from higher up?
"This is something that needs to be given attention and must be probed thoroughly.
"I feel an investigation is needed as it touches on our sovereignty," he told reporters in Parliament, here, today.
Lim said the letter to the CIA also raised questions over whether similar such notes were sent to other countries in the run up to the May 9 elections.
"The issue of whether the letter was sent to other countries also must be asked.
"We don't want this issue to be like 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) where nobody admitted to receiving funds from it at first, but was later revealed that they did," he said.
The letter had among other things, appealed for US to support Najib’s administration, saying any indication that the US government would continue to support Najib and his administration would strengthen stability and enhance the existing cordial relationship between the two nations.
The letter also stated that Dr Mahathir was harmful to the US and its interest as he had been anti-West, anti-Semitic and autocratic, while also ignoring human rights and the rule of law.