— Othman Wahab The Malaysian Insider May 23, 2012
MAY 23 — This is what Umno politicians do when they get caught out: they huff and puff, spin some yarn and blow smoke all over the place.
Several months ago when websites reported that the government had instructed the Umno lawyer Hafarizam Harun (the same chap with the RM2.2 billion highway project with former Umno lawyer Tun Zaki Azmi) to seek an out-of-court settlement on Tajudin Ramli’s massive RM589 million debt to Danaharta, Nazri Aziz denied any such endeavour.
The de facto Law Minister dismissed all such reports. And then it happened, there was a secretive out-of-court settlement where the man associated with the fall of the national icon got a sweet deal.
Till today, no one knows whether he paid anything or if he received a free pass but the fact that the government has not been willing to disclose the terms of the settlement suggests he got a great deal.
After all, Tajuddin had enough ammunition to sink Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno.
But last night, Khairy Jamaluddin said that Tajuddin had paid something and even suggested that the former Malaysia Airlines boss gave Danaharta a suitable compensation.
Really? Is that why the terms of the settlement are still secret? Is that why the case was taken away from private sector lawyers and tasked to the Umno lawyer to handle?
The problem with the likes of Nazri, Khairy and for that matter Umno politicians in general is that they are so used to stupidity and mediocrity that they believe that all Malaysians are like them.