The Curious Case of Lester Melanyi - How Low Can One Go ?

Lester Melanyi will receive a Letter of Demand from my lawyers this week and will have 7 days to retract and apologise for his widely publicized video statement.

Lester Melanyi has via his 2-part videos to date directly accused me of conspiring with other parties, foreign and local to fabricate and falsify information about 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) in order to “cheat and lie” to achieve whatever alleged objectives.

The self-confessed paid “confession” by Lester Melanyi is packed with incredulous tall tales which even the most hardcore of Barisan Nasional supporters would find hard to believe. In the latest video, he even alleged that 90% of what is published by the Sarawak Report on 1MDB was fabricated and only 10% was truthful.

If it were indeed made up of 90% lies, then I am certain that the Sarawak Report stories would have been debunked and humiliated a long time ago by 1MDB. Instead, 1MDB had over the past 6 months steadfastly refused to rebut the specific allegations which were backed with attached documents.

That is the reason why Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan did his “chicken dance” to capitalise on the above allegations politically, but was too much of a coward to accuse me of the above crimes directly.

What stunned me was Lester’s “confession” that I had “communicated once” with him in January. Allegedly I had asked him whether he was “on this 1MDB mission” and he had responded to me that he wasn’t. Instead, he had allegedly told me “to communicate with Clare (Rewcastle) directly”

I was stunned because I’ve never known or heard of a “Lester Melanyi” in my entire life before the first video, much less “communicated” with him! I almost doubted myself and actually took the trouble to search for his name in my emails and contacts list, in case my ageing memory failed me. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Lester’s allegation was completely fabricated.

However, Lester’s videos weren’t just a mere work of fiction. It is a malicious attempt designed to destroy the reputation and credibility of those who were most critical of 1MDB. Lester’s accusations meant that I had cheated and lied in my criticisms against the scandal-ridden company and that I had also conspired with other individuals to do the same via the Sarawak Report.

It is shocking how low BN Ministers will go to – relying on a fictitious confession from someone with no credibility in order to taint the critics of the Government. They don’t even bother to do some simple background checks on their dubious sources. Perhaps that is understandable because they are so desperate to distract the people’s attention from the scandal-ridden Prime Minister who has yet to deny receiving nearly US$700 million in his personal account.

Unlike Dato’ Seri Najib Razak however, I will not be writing to Lester Melanyi to seek “clarification” on his video. I’ve directed my lawyers, Gobind Singh in Klang Valley and where necessary, Chong Chieng Jen in Kuching, to issue a letter of demand against Lester and anyone else who republish or repeats his utterly baseless accusations this week.

They will have 7 days to retract and apologise publicly for their false and malicious allegations, failing which I will immediately commence a legal suit against the relevant parties.

I certainly hope that whatever fees Lester received from BN or its affiliated NGOs for the made-up “confession” is worth his while, and more importantly perhaps is to request Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan to foot his legal bills.

Tony Pua