A week ago, the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Dr. Ali Hamsa said that the government is studying the possibility of using the polygraph – lie detector – test as a mechanism to help curb cases of corruption among civil servants.
Ali Hamsa said the government was looking at using such tools as part of its initiatives to strengthen the integrity of government agencies.
This is a good idea, especially as it was recengly reported by an establishment “mainstream media” that an entire division of a government agency, which collects revenue for the country, had failed a polygraph test showing that most of the senior officers had been stealing money and abused their position for gratification – one reason why the polygraph test for civil servants was discontinued.
Bearing in mind the proverb “A fish rots from the head down”, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be the first to take the polygraph test and answer questions specifically on the 1MDB scandal and his private banking accounts by a panel of independent and eminent Malaysians.
Malaysia cannot continue to pretend that the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering and Najib’s US$2.6 billion “donation” scandals do not exist when they are the subject of multiple investigations in some ten foreign countries and jurisdictions, with criminal and punitive action already taken against former bankers and financial institutions.
Malaysia, made infamous as a “global kleptocracy” with Malaysia going through the first Ramadan under the shadow of United States Department of Justice’s biggest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit over US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$3.5 billion 1MDB international money-laundering scandal, has been turning and twisting under the glare of international scrutiny, pretending that the 1MDB scandal does not exist.
The whole world knows about Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”, 1MDB scandal, the astronomical “donations” in Najib personal bank accounts, and the identity of “MO1”, except in Malaysia – where the three branches of government Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary; key national institutions like the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Bank Negara, Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor-General’s Department, the mainstream media, are hand-in-glove in a national and international conspiracy pretending that there is no such thing as a 1MDB kleptocratic scandal.
But the ghosts of the scandals of the 1MDB and Najib’s astronomical donations in his personal bank accounts would not just go away.
In Singapore, its financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had just wrapped up a two-year review of banks involved in transactions related to the wide-ranging 1MDB embezzlement scandal that has rippled across the global financial system, fining or closing down banks and jailing or prohibiting bankers.
A few days ago, news portal The Malaysian Insight reported that a book and a film on the 1MDB scandal are in the works by two different groups.
The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Tom Wright who broke many reports on 1MDB, has been on leave since last year to complete the book which he promises will have “lots of revelations” while a British production house is producing a documentary on 1MDB, and has entered into a co-production deal with another company, Roast Beef Productions, with a 2017 premiere deadline.
It has been reported that the film could be titled “The Master And His Wolf” – as a sequel to the 1MDB-related 2013 Hollywood hit, The Wolf of Wall Street.
Among those to be named in the book and documentary include Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was 1MDB advisory board chairman, businessman Low Taek Jho better known as Jho Low, former chief executives Shahrol Halmi, Hazem Abdul Rahman and current 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy; Saudi Arabia’s PetroSaudi director Tarek Obaid and Abu Dhabi duo, Khadem Al Qubaisi and Mohammed Al Husseiny, who are executives of Aabar, which partnered 1MDB in several ventures.
The latest waves from the scandals from 1MDB and Najib’s private banking accounts are revelations by the whistleblower website Sarawak Report, implicating a prominent senior lawyer and accusing him of receiving RM9.5 million from Najib.
The website alleged that the payment came from an account belonging to the prime minister, which received funds from state-owned SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.
Sarawak Report claimed the payments to the senior lawyer, who was involved in a high-profile case, were made in two tranches – the first tranche of RM4.3 million was allegedly transferred on Sept 11, 2013 followed by another RM5.2 million on Feb 17, 2014.
This has led to PKR Youth accusation that Sarawak Report revelations were “damning” in proving that there had been “a hidden hand” in the conviction and imprisonment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Sungai Buloh Prison.
Is Najib prepared to take a polygraph test by an independent and eminent panel of Malaysians, specifically on Malaysia’s shooting to infamy as a global kleptocracy under his premiership, the 1MDB and his private banking account scandals?