The Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad, who launched the “Anti-Corruption Revolution Movement” (GERAH) two days ago, has said in an exclusive interview that the MACC had set a three-year deadline for Malaysia to move high up the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the MACC does not expect any improvement in the TI CPI until three years later in the 2020 TI CPI? Read the rest of this entry »

Trinna Leong
Straits Times
10th May 2017

Minister and 1MDB president are said to be no longer in charge of key projects linked to state fund

The fallout continues over the aborted Bandar Malaysia property development deal, as reports emerged yesterday that key personnel tasked with negotiating the multibillion-dollar project have been relieved of their duties.

Malaysia’s Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani and troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy were part of the so-called Budiman committee, a government unit set up to manage restructuring and divestment of 1MDB assets. The Malaysian Insight (TMI) reported that both men and the committee are no longer spearheading 1MDB-linked prime developments in Kuala Lumpur, namely Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia.

The news comes after the government’s sudden decision last Wednesday to abort a RM7.41 billion (S$2.4 billion) deal inked in 2015 to jointly develop Bandar Malaysia, the country’s biggest property project on the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, with private conglomerate Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC). Read the rest of this entry »