Archive for October 4th, 2017
Malaysia: 1MDB casts a long shadow
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 4 October 2017
by Eric Ellis
EuroMoney
October 04, 2017
This is the third year of the drama: as the government desperately tries to untangle its controversial fund before elections are called, Malaysians are asking who’s really paying to clean up the mess.
It was a revealing time to be a banker in Malaysia.
During the last week of July, word went around Kuala Lumpur’s banking circles that there could be a big government mandate in the offing, a deal to raise around $600 million, there for the taking for anyone up for the business. A $600 million transaction might not be especially large, but a deal is a deal, and even better if it’s for a sovereign, no? After all, the pickings have been a little slimmer for KL bankers ever since Malaysia was engulfed by the 1MDB corruption scandal in 2015, a saga that has rocked the ringgit, threatened Malaysia’s credit standing and plunged the country into chronic political and economic turmoil. At the centre of the scandal is Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, who received hundreds of millions of dollars via 1MDB, and who claimed the money was a donation from Middle Eastern supporters.
Two years on, the $12 billion debt drama at the Malaysian sovereign fund continues to reverberate at home and echo in regulators’ offices around the world, with investigations under way in seven countries – but notably not Malaysia. Given the suspicions of money laundering and embezzlement, investigators, some wielding indictments, are demanding answers to tough questions about important people implicated in the case. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawyers directed to take out a test case to sue the media which printed lies and defamatory material about me, like receiving RM1 billion bribe from Mahathir, just by quoting some “Tom, Dick and Harry”
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Court, Media on Wednesday, 4 October 2017
The two UMNO stooges in the Cabinet have been knocked out and this is one reason for their silence in the past two days.
The other reason is that they have been directed to shut up by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s right-hand man, regarded as the maestro in blacks ops operation who has assigned other operatives to get the better of me in their long unending propaganda war against the DAP and Pakatan Harapan.
Since last Saturday, a digit operating outside the country had published the most vicious and downright lies about me, but when such lies and falsehoods were ignored, another digit operating inside the country was activated to repeat the vicious and downright lies.
It is not worth paying attention to these “Tom, Dick and Harry”, whether operating outside and inside the country, for they have absolutely no credibility whatsoever from any perspective. Nobody reads or believes what they say!
But when certain media allowed themselves to be used to publish and circulate these vicious and downright lies, such perversities and loopholes cannot be ignored.
Can we allow a situation where the most vicious and downrights lies can be told about the Prime Minister, and when these most vicious and downright lies are related by any “Tom, Dick and Harry” and ignored, some media can come along and disseminate them on the basis of the narration of some backrupt personality? Read the rest of this entry »
Were there “fireworks” in the Cabinet this morning with Education Minister Mahdzir demanding public apology from Adnan for leading students astray or was there Ministerial camaraderie laughing at the “great fun” at the Putrajaya school?
Were there “fireworks” in the Cabinet this morning as a result of the outrageous episode at SK Putrajaya Presint 14 (1) yesterday, where in honour of the visit by the Federal Territories Minister, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, hundreds of pupils and teachers were required to participate in a “class decoration and performance” competition with the theme “Umno and Independence”, where Umno flags were draped all over the primary school’s compound and the pupils brandished Umno flags and crooned the party’s anthem.
At one point, a banner with the words “Hidup Umno, Hidup Melayu. Dulu, Kini dan Selamanya” (Long Live Umno, Long Live Malays. Before, Now and Forever) appeared on stage.
There would be “fireworks” in the Cabinet this morning if we have an upright, honest and dedicated Education Minister who take his education portfolio seriously, and who will not brook any Minister trespassing into his portfolio to corrupt the minds of young Malaysians, and a Cabinet of Ministers who have not lost the basic value of being able to distinguish between right and wrong – and what Tengku Adnan did yesterday were positively wrong, no question about it.
Such an Education Minister and Cabinet of Ministers would have “fried” Tunku Adnan for his gross misdemeanours at the SK Putrajaya Presint 14 (1) requiring the student and teachers to stage such a vaudeville and even worse, his open begging of teachers to join UMNO! Read the rest of this entry »
Challenge to Najib to deny that he had not created an instant billionaire (in Malaysian ringgit) by approving RM1.8 billion commissions to Leissner or 9% of the three 1MDB bonds totally US$6.5 billion in 2012/3 – which is several times the industry average for underwriting risky bonds
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 4 October 2017
The international headlines about former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner, who had been linked to the 1MDB scandal, barred from the US securities industry for failing to provide documents for 1MDB investigations, is the latest proof that despite Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s optimistic forecast in his 2016 New Year Message 21 months ago that the 1MDB scandal was no more and his Sept. 12 visit to the White House and meeting with US President Trump, the 1MDB scandal is not only very much alive, but has become more global in its tentacles and scope.
The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) said the indefinite ban on Leissner was issued on Sept 11 as he did not respond to requests for documents and other information on 1MDB investigations.
The US industry body was probing Leissner’s departure from Goldman Sachs in early 2016, in particular into a reference letter he allegedly wrote during his time with the firm.
Leissner, who was formerly Goldman Sachs’ Southeast Asia chairperson, was an adviser to 1MDB and had allegedly issued an unauthorised letter in June 2015 to a financial institution in Luxembourg, vouching for controversial entrepreneur Jho Low, a key figure in the scandal surrounding the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.
Goldman Sachs suspended him, and he later quit the firm. Subsequently, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a 10-year ban against him trading in the country, effective March 13, 2017.
Leissner was prime mover in Goldman Sachs’ effort in raising US$6.5 billion through the sale of three bonds in 2012 and 2013 for 1MDB, a deal where the firm made US$593 millionh (or RM1.8 billion) in commissions.
Malaysians are entitled to know who in 1MDB, the Finance Ministry and the Government of Malaysia was responsible for approving US$593 million (or some RM1.8 billion) profits to Leissner or 9% of the three 1MDB bonds totally US$6.5 billion in 2012/3 – which is several times the industry average for underwriting risky bonds.
I challenge Najib to deny that he had not created an instant American billionaire (in Malaysian ringgit) in the 1MDB scandal by approving RM1.8 billion commissions to Leissner or 9% of the three 1MDB bonds totally US$6.5 billion in 2012/3 – which is several times the industry average for underwriting risky bonds. Read the rest of this entry »
Ex-Goldman Banker Leissner Barred From U.S. Securities Industry
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 4 October 2017
By Michael J Moore
Bloomberg
October 4, 2017
Tim Leissner, a senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker before leaving the firm in the wake of its work with Malaysia’s embattled investment fund, has been barred from the U.S. securities industry for failing to provide documents to a regulator.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued an indefinite bar on Sept. 11, saying Leissner didn’t submit to its requests during an investigation, according to his employment records on Finra’s website. Leissner accepted the findings, without admitting or denying them, according to the self-regulatory body.
Leissner, once Goldman Sachs’s Southeast Asia chairman, was an adviser to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., an investment fund set up in 2009 to help the nation build infrastructure. 1MDB ultimately became embroiled in allegations of financial irregularities that sparked probes in multiple countries. Leissner left Goldman last year after questions about the fund, his work on an Indonesian mining deal and a reference letter he allegedly wrote. Read the rest of this entry »
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