In remarks as notable for their chutzpah as for their stupidity Malaysian arch criminal PM Najib Razak announced that Malaysia’s currency, the ringgit, would recover in 2017. Whatever gave him that idea, apart of course the hope that ordinary Malaysians might be deceived into thinking that their money will cease to disappear down the plughole this year as rapidly as it did in 2016.

When the Prime Minister of a country is publicly exposed as a mega thief of his own citizens’ money, as Najib has been by the United Sates government, he can hardly hope to convince them both that he is an honest man and that their money will stop falling in value. Who, in the old catchphrase, does he think he is kidding?

When a country has been systematically robbed by its own leader and this has been publicly proven to have been the case in Malaysia the only way to rescue the national currency from Weimar status is to jail the criminal, clean the house and give domestic and foreign currency holders reason to trust the ringgit again.

Does Najib even realise why the ringgit has been plunging, despite the National Bank frantically buying ringgits with real money? It’s because of him, and his criminal political supporters. Ringgit holders see a real possibility that, in the near future, they will be like Weimar mark holders, needing wheelbarrows to carry the money for the daily shop. Since none of them lack supplies of good quality lavatory paper why hold on to ringgits?

There is only one way to restore credibility to the ringgit and that is to put Najib and his co-criminals where they belong. In prison.