Nazri-Mahathir debate nothing to do with gov’t: Johari

KUALA LUMPUR: Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani has claimed that the debate between Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad set for later this month has nothing to do with the government.
Johari said should Nazri, who is Tourism and Culture Minister, show up for the debate with the former premier, it would be under his own capacity, and not representing the Barisan Nasional-led government.
He was responding to a question by the media on whether he would be fine with the pair debating on, among other things, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which falls under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry.
"The report that was prepared by the Auditor-General and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has been deliberated extensively in parliament. All questions have been answered there.
"So I do not want to comment more than that. If both of these characters want to do this debate, it's beyond me already.
"That is already personal and individual, has got nothing to do with the government," he told reporters after attending an event, here, today.
Talks of a debate between the two arose after Nazri challenged Mahathir to contest for the Padang Rengas seat in the upcoming General Election last week.
Mahathir declined it, but threw a challenge back, calling for a debate on 1MDB, the controversial RM2.6 billion deposited into Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's account, and the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF), of which his administration was linked to about US$1 billion in losses in the 1980s.
Nazri has since agreed to the debate, and said he would never back out.