Archive for category Corruption
I will be surprised if 99% of the civil servants at Prime Minister’s Department monthly assembly today were not thinking of three things, Malaysia’s ill-repute as global kleptocracy, 1MDB and “MO1” when they heard Najib’s speech this morning
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Monday, 9 January 2017
I will be surprised if 99% of the civil servants at the Prime Minister’s Department monthly assembly this morning were not thinking of three things, Malaysia’s ill-repute as global kleptocracy, 1MDB and “MO1” when they heard the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s speech this morning.
In his speech, Najib said the recent arrests made by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) are a reminder to civil servants against wastage.
Najib said wastage “is equal to taking away what belongs to the people,” and he reminded those in government that they cannot take away the people’s rights.
The founder of Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4), Cynthia Gabriel and Bersih chairperson Maria China were spot-on when they responded to Najib’s speech by urging the Prime Minister to lead by example on his reminder to civil servants this not to take what rightfully belongs to the people. Read the rest of this entry »
Three mini-political earthquakes in Sabah and Malaysian political landscape to lead to the major political earthquake in the 14GE to change the government in Sabah and Putrajaya
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, Sabah on Monday, 9 January 2017
The launching of the Pakatan Harapan Sabah this morning is one of the three mini political earthquakes to lead to the major political earthquake in the 14th General Election expected this year to peacefully and democratically change the government in Sabah and Putrajaya.
As Mat Sabu, the President of AMANAH, said just now, the issue is not whether one is a Sabahan or not, but whether the political leaders asking for popular support are men and women of integrity.
The next general election should be a choice between democracy or kleptocracy; good governance or injustices and abuses of power.
In the past year or so, Malaysia had become a global kleptocracy – which I said in Parliament is a government of 3Ps, Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun. Equally shocking, Sabah has emerged as the most kleptocratic state in Malaysia.
In the last few days, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested a Federal Ministry Secretary-General and a few millions of ringgit were found in his possession – but this was small fry compared to the tens and hundreds of millions of ringgit which the MACC found when it raided two top officers of the Sabah Water Department in October during the Sabah Watergate scandal!
China has caught and imprisoned “tigers” and Indonesia “crocodiles” in their anti-corruption campaigns but the Malaysian MACC has still to net and jail a single “shark”, and unless the MACC can net the “political sharks” in the fight against corruption, the focus on civil servants will not take Malaysia’s anti-corruption campaign very far.
There must a clean, honest and dedicated political leadership, both at the national and state levels.
Sabahans are entitled to ask why with Sabah’s vast wealth and natural resources, poverty in Sabah is so acute and abject with Sabahans among the poorest in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Liow should explain how MCA could reconcile its public stand to oppose Hadi’s private member’s bill with Najib’s announcement that Barisan Nasional government will vote in support of Hadi’s private member’s bill motion in March Parliament and government take over Hadi’s bill?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Corruption, Gerakan, Islam, MCA, MIC, Najib Razak, Parliament on Saturday, 7 January 2017
There is a rule of thumb in political exchanges that personal attacks or character assassination is the last resort of political opportunists and scoundrels who have run out of arguments based on facts and reason, and this is what the MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai resorted to when he launched a ferocious personal attack on me, accusing the DAP as a privately-owned “Kit Siang & Son Sdn. Bhd” and not a political party.
I can understand Liow’s frustration and exasperation, but it is no justification nevertheless for him to resort to personal attacks and character-assassination.
What was Liow frustrated and exasperated about?
The latest incident was the MCA leadership’s total inability to respond to my statement on Thursday catching Liow “red-handed” in saying one thing to the Chinese but giving a totally different impression to the Malays – which is the height of political dishonesty and chicanery at work in plural Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib Razak appears secure, but looks can deceive
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Islam, Najib Razak on Saturday, 7 January 2017
Banyan
Economist
Jan 7th 2017
The opposition has a chance to strike
A ROUND of applause, ladies and gentlemen. Any typical leader of a typical democracy, when found with nearly $700m of ill-explained money from an unnamed foreign donor in his accounts, would experience a swift and fatal fall. Yet, nearly two years after news first broke that Najib Razak’s bank balance had been thus plumped up, his high-wire act continues.
You could even argue that the Malaysian prime minister, who denies any wrongdoing, is at the top of his game. Mr Najib appears to command the unstinting loyalty of the party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which leads the coalition that has ruled the country since independence in 1957. He has undermined a fractious opposition, not least by peeling an Islamist party away from it. And as investigations proceed in several other countries into the alleged bilking of colossal sums from 1MDB, an indebted state investment-fund whose advisory board Mr Najib once chaired, the prime minister himself remains untouched. Staying in power helps stave off any risk he might face of international prosecution. A general election is due by late August 2018, but perhaps Mr Najib will call a snap poll in the next few months to give himself several more years’ rule. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia starting the new year not just with double whammy but a multitude of whammies!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Economics, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 6 January 2017
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s hint to the first Cabinet meeting of the year on Wednesday that 2017 is going to be an “interesting year” has already been more than fulfilled in the first five days of the year.
The new year in the past five days started not just with a double whammy but a multitude of whammies, including:
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The Malaysian ringgit currency starting the new year with a new record low of RM4.5002 against the US dollar since the 1998 Asian financial crisis, signifying very tough economic year for Malaysians;
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The gutting of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) although it was already quite impotent to fighting grand corruption. No “tiger” or “crocodile” had been caught by the MACC,but there seems a “devil’s bargain”: that the MACC is given the green light to go after civil servants so long as they leave the politicos and their “favourite” civil servants alone.
The Charismatic Banker Who Led Singapore’s BSI Into the Abyss
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals on Friday, 6 January 2017
by Andrea Tan and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Bloomberg
January 6, 2017
He was the leader of one of the largest mass defections in private banking history, with more than 100 staff following him from RBS Coutts Bank Ltd. in the thick of the global credit crisis to create a financial phenomenon in Singapore at a little-known Swiss bank.
Hanspeter Brunner, together with former deputy Raj Sriram and chief operating officer Gary Tucker, were the kernel of a plan by BSI SA, founded in 1873 in Lugano, to build up a $10 billion wealth-management business serving the burgeoning ranks of Asia’s millionaires.
Brunner, a veteran Swiss private banker who has spent more than two decades in Asia, offered his Coutts colleagues an extraordinary lifeboat.
Then-parent Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc was being bailed out by the U.K. government, while all around the financial industry was culling tens of thousands of jobs.
Brunner knew every banker, analyst, back-office worker and client at Coutts, according to people familiar with the move. When he went to BSI, even the pantry lady followed, three of the people said. This wasn’t just a chance for BSI to grab a few star talents in the cutthroat world of private banking in Asia, this was a wholesale exodus. Brunner’s lawyer Ng Lip Chih of NLC Law Asia LLC declined to comment.
The mass move to BSI Bank Ltd., the Singapore unit, forged a sense of camaraderie among the defectors and cemented a bond with Brunner, who managed to negotiate pay increases of as much as 40 percent, according to the people, who didn’t want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. BSI’s payroll swelled from 30 employees to 200 within a year, according to a company report.
They little knew that Brunner was bringing them from one crash to another. In May, Singapore’s financial watchdog ordered the bank to shut its operations in the city-state, blasting BSI as the nation’s worst case of banking misconduct. Read the rest of this entry »
Who is Najib’s Goebbels? Is he prepared to emerge from the darkness and come into the light to identify himself and explain why he is masterminding so many “fake news” and “false stories” about critics and the Opposition?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, DAP, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Thursday, 5 January 2017
It is indeed supreme irony that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should kick off the new year warning about “fake news” and “false stories” as a grave problem in the country, when it is the UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers and the country’s mainstream media like New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia which are the worst culprits in concocting and disseminating fake news and false stories about critics and the Opposition.
Their action befits the Chinese saying about “Thief shouting thief” which basically means to divert the attention of others so as to cover up one’s misdoings
In the fifth day of the new year, we already have several examples of such “fake news” and “false stories” perpetrated by UMNO leaders, propagandists, cyberbtroopers and sycophants and I shudder to think of the mountain of lies, “fake news” and “false stories” that will be concocted this year in the run-up to the 14th General Election, which can be held anytime between May and October.
Najib gave the “official launch” for the UMNO/BN campaign of “fake news” and “false stories” – a classic “thief shouting thief” act reminiscent of the Nazi “Big Lies” propaganda offensive – in his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov. 30, telling three “Big Lies”, viz:
1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;
2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.
3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.
Najib’s three “Big Lies” would make Hitler’s Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, green with envy as it was Goebbels who gave the following definition of Nazi’s Big Lies offensive: “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”.
There no need to repeat my rebuttal of Najib’s Three Nazi-style “Big Lies” which the Prime Minister and his propaganda team had not been able to refute. Read the rest of this entry »
MACC is like Alice in Wonderland becoming “curiouser and curiouser”- in its pronouncements, staff movements as well selective even malicious investigation of corruption cases
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Wednesday, 4 January 2017
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), like Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, is becoming “curiouser and curiouser” – in its pronouncements, staff movements and selective even malicious investigation and prosecution of corruption cases.
I agree with Tun Mahathir’s lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla who questioned why the MACC issued a statement of denial on the reason cited by its former Special Operations Division director, Bahri Mohd Zin, on his early retirement.
It is certainly “strange and awkward” that the MACC had done this after allegedly contacting Bahri, who allegedly denied to MACC in making such a statement and yet the MACC could not coax Bahri to issue a denial – resulting in the MACC statement losing all credibility.
There is considerable merit in Mohd Haniff’s challenge calling on the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohanmed Apandi Ali and the MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad to explain transparently the MACC’s investigations into SRC International and why the SRC International case was never brought to court, when it seems to be an open-and-shut case against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption and abuse of power. Read the rest of this entry »
Diminished in 2016, what lies ahead for Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 3 January 2017
REVIEW 2016
PAULINE NG
Business Times Singapore
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Kuala Lumpur
TO many, 2016 was a year of diminishment for Malaysia.
Not only has the ringgit’s value declined considerably, public confidence and consumer sentiment have waned noticeably. Meanwhile, the 1MDB financial scandal has also diminished Malaysia in the eyes of the international community.
Unless credibility is restored, the regression is expected to continue in 2017 amid great uncertainties – one of which are the policies of the mercurial Donald Trump who will be sworn in as US president later this month.
New leaders could also emerge in Europe as Germany and France head to the polls in the coming months. Read the rest of this entry »
MACC is only allowed to net ikan bilis but not ikan yus (sharks) in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, MCA, Najib Razak on Monday, 2 January 2017
The end of the year underlines one important aspect about the anti-corruption campaign in Malaysia – the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is only allowed to net ikan bilis but not the ikan yus (sharks) in Malaysia, or the MACC itself will be targeted by the powers-that-be in the country and those responsible will be punished and disempowered.
This was highlighted by the end-of-the-year corruption news of the “transfer out” of the six senior officers in the MACC Special Operations Division (Bahagian Operasi Khas – BOK) who were directly involved in the SRC International investigations.
As reported by Malaysiakini, the six who were transferred out included Tan Kang Sai, the division’s deputy.
The special division was formed in 2010 to handle high-profile cases as well as cases involving corruption of more than RM1 million.
Two from the team were transferred out in October, while the rest, including Tan, were removed this month. Some of the posts vacated by those transferred out of the special unit have not been filled.
According to Malaysiakini, four of them had been transferred to MACC’s investigation division, while others were transferred to state MACC offices and other government agencies. Read the rest of this entry »
Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry to Save FELDA, to listen to grievances of Felda settlers particularly on Felda’s EHP acquisition and Felda Global Ventures (FGV) and to make recommendations
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Felda, Financial Scandals on Monday, 2 January 2017
DAP calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into FELDA, to listen to grievances of FELDA settlers particularly on FELDA’s Eagle High Plantations (EHP) acquisition, Felda Global Ventures (FGV) and to make recommendations to Save Felda and to ensure that FELDA does not become as great a national embarrassment and shame as the international 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.
I am sure former Law Minister, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who is with us today, is fit and qualified to be a member of this Royal Commission to Save FELDA, and I am also prepared to serve on the RCI to Save Felda.
A fit and proper Chairman of the Royal Commission of Inquiry to Save FELDA would be Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, the CIMB Chairperson, the son of Tun Razak who set up FELDA and the brother of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
PKR MP for Pandan, Rafizi Rami would be most suitable to be engaged to head an investigation team by the RCI to Save FELDA. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian Leader Najib Razak Promised Openness, but Dissent Over 1MDB Stifled
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Saturday, 31 December 2016
By YANTOULTRA NGUI, CELINE FERNANDEZ and PATRICK BARTA
Wall Street Journal
Dec. 30, 2016
Government uses assortment of laws to silence critics of its handling of global scandal over state fund
KUALA LUMPUR—Graphic designer Fahmi Reza is facing up to two years in prison. His problem? He painted red clown lips on a picture of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and sent it around.
Mr. Najib pledged a new era of civic freedom when he came to power seven years ago in a country known for penalizing political foes. Instead, his government has become increasingly intolerant of critics as it tries to limit fallout from a sprawling corruption scandal related to a state economic-development fund.
International investigators believe associates of the prime minister siphoned billions of dollars from the fund, known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB. The U.S. Justice Department has moved to seize $1 billion of assets prosecutors say were purchased with money misappropriated from the fund.
Mr. Najib and 1MDB have denied wrongdoing and promised to cooperate with lawful investigations. The Malaysian attorney general early in 2016 cleared Mr. Najib of wrongdoing.
While pledging to investigate 1MDB fully, Mr. Najib’s government recently has silenced critics under an assortment of laws, arresting dozens. It has barred some from traveling abroad. The government also shut down a probe related to 1MDB by Malaysia’s anticorruption agency, which, according to a person familiar with the matter, had called for criminal charges against Mr. Najib. Read the rest of this entry »
Corruption Trends in 2016: Southeast Asia’s Governance Plight
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Saturday, 31 December 2016
[Bridget Welsh highlights persistent corruption trend in Southeast Asia through revealing data, including the Asia Barometer Survey. Indeed, 2016 reveals that corruption remains a major challenge for the region emerging economies. (This article is published in Thinking ASEAN 2016 Kaleidoscope special issue)]
Serious corruption scandals continued to plague Southeast Asia as the monies involve reach record levels. In December 2015 Indonesians were riveted by the US$4 billion extortion attempt of Freeport McMoRan involving the Speaker of the House of Representatives Setya Novanto. He later resigned amidst ethics concerns. Next door in Malaysia, the multi-billion 1MDB scandal has made headlines since July 2015. At issue are kleptocracy allegations against Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak involving the deposit of nearly USUS$700 million deposited into his personal bank account, through an investment vehicle that has been tied to money-laundering and embezzlement being investigated in six international jurisdictions. The actual losses involved extend beyond US$3 billion. Najib clings to power to avoid international prosecution. In mainland Southeast Asia an assessment this year by Global Witness alleges that Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia has taken at least US$200 million for his own personal use and claims that the actual amount pilfered may extend to above US$1 billion. He too appears to be using his office for protection and wealth. The amounts in the abuse of office for personal gain is just one of the many worrying trends involving corruption across the region. Read the rest of this entry »
Message of wind-down of MACC special operations division is clear – MACC should catch more “ikan bilis” but leave the ‘ikan yus” alone!
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Corruption on Saturday, 31 December 2016
2017 New Year Message
In his 2016 New Year message exactly a year ago, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told Malaysians that his RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues.
Najib could not be more wrong as Malaysia’s international repute and standing suffered an even worse battering this year with the ferocious pounding of the twin mega scandals in the international marketplace of opinion, to the extent that Malaysians felt embarrassed in admitting that they are Malaysians when abroad.
In the past 12 months, Malaysia went from the third “worst corruption scandal of 2015” by international website foreignpolicy.com in the last week of last year, to second worst example of global corruption by Time magazine in March, second place in the index of crony capitalism by the Economist’s ranking in May, and full-blown “global kleptocracy” when in July, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the largest kleptocratic lawsuits to forfeit US$1 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from US$3.5 billion international 1MDB kleptocratic embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.
These were not the only woes for the country for this year – as the country is going through the worst multiple crisis of confidence as evidenced by the worst plummeting in the value of the Malaysian ringgit, the worst racial and religious polarisation in the nation’s history and the unspeakable shame in being excluded from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)2015 because of data cheating and bungling by the Ministry of Education.
We are ending the 2016 year with news of the downsizing of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) special operations division, which had handled high-profiled cases related to the 1MDB and Felda.
The message is very clear – MACC should arrest and prosecute more “ikan bilis” but it should leave the “ikan yus” alone. Read the rest of this entry »
DAP Sabah to create a “political earthquake” in Sabah in 14th General Election through the ballot box to peacefully and democratically start the process of political change in Sabah and Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, Sabah on Saturday, 31 December 2016
The message I have taken to Tenom, Keningau and Pensiangan in the past three days is to call on the people of the Sabah Interior to join the urban voters to create a “political earthquake” in the 14th General Election expected next year through the ballot box to peacefully and democratically start the process of political change in Sabah and Malaysia in order to save Sabah and to save Malaysia for our children and children’s children.
My three-day visit to Tenom, Keningau and Pensiangan with National DAPSY leader and Perak DAP State Assemblyman for Canning, Wong Kah Woh, in the company of the Sabah DAP Chairman and MP for Sandakan, Steven Wong, Sabah DAP Adviser and MP for Kota Kinabalu, Jimmy Wong and the Sabah DAP Deputy Chairman and Sabah State Assemblyman for Kepayang Dr. Edwin Bosi, has been an eye-opener for me.
I see the greatest contrasts in Sabah – its great wealth and rich natural resources on the one hand and the abject poverty and shocking socio-economic backwardness of the people, mired in a world-class system of corruption and kleptocracy!
Sabah’s own Watergate scandal has only sharpened and highlighted this immoral and unacceptable contrast in Sabah. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s 1MDB Scandal Claims Another Scalp
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 30 December 2016
By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat
December 30, 2016
Private banker jailed for 30 months.
The legal ramifications following the scandal linked to the 1MDB fund continues to resonate with a court in Singapore convicting a private banker of trying to obstruct investigations into the indebted fund founded by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Yeo Jiawei, 34, a former wealth planner at Swiss private bank BSI where he was known for his taste of the good life, was convicted of four charges related to obstructing, preventing or perverting the course of justice in regards to 1MDB or 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
He was sentenced to 30 months behind bars.
According to police, Yeo earned $18 million from the affair and had asked three witnesses to lie to authorities, get rid of a laptop and urged them not to travel to Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »
The 13 other BN component parties should not walk into the trap prepared by some UMNO leaders and propose instead that the March Parliament set up an all-party Parliamentary Select Committee to strengthen inter-religious relations in Malaysia based on Malaysian Constitution, MA63 and Rukunegara
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Corruption, Najib Razak, Religion on Friday, 30 December 2016
The Sabah Council of Churches spoke for Malaysians and not just Sabahans when during Christmas, it prayed for truth to prevail in Malaysia, especially among those in power.
In his Christmas Day message, Council president Rev Jerry Dusing said, among others, truth must be established on the issues concerning 1MDB and the “hudud bill”.
He asked: “What is the truth of 1MDB? As Malaysians are left in the dark, we find ourselves frustratingly waiting for foreign nations to expose the truth about this mystery.”
He said lack of truth on the matter compromises the willingness of the public and businesses to respond to public policies and contribute to economic recovery.
I am very disappointed that the Cabinet, at its last meeting of the year yesterday, had not heard Dusing’s Christmas Message and started the new year 2017 with a new commitment to tell Malaysians about the truth, whether it be on 1MDB or PAS President, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s private member’s bill motion to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act (Act 355).
There are six Ministers from Sabah in the Najib Cabinet, three of whom are Christians, one of whom is responsible for national unity as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup.
It is the height of disappointment that none of the Sabah Ministers had raised Dusing’s Christmas Message at the last Cabinet of the year for the Cabinet and Government to start telling the truth to Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »
Sabah will be rich and developed after 53 years in Malaysia if there is no corruption and the wealth of Sabah had been used for Sabahans and not hijacked by corrupt leaders and their cronies
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sabah on Thursday, 29 December 2016
Malaysia is now regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” which I had defined in Parliament as a country ruled by PPP – Pencuri, Perompak and Penyamun.
What is equally shocking is that Sabah has also become kleptocracy.
Recently, a joke about Trump and corruption in Malaysia was making the rounds, viz:
Donald Trump wants the white house painted!
Chinese guy quoted 3 million
European guy quoted 7 million
Malaysian guy quoted 10 million.Trump asked Chinese guy how did you quote?
He said:
1 million for paint
1 million for labour
1 million profit.He asked European?
He said :
3 million for paint
2 million for labour
2 million profit.He asked Malaysian?
Malaysian said:
4 million for me
3 million for you
3 million will give it to the Chinese guy to paint.
“4 million for me, 3 million for you” out of a 10 million would put the corruption at 70% of the paint-job, which is phenomenally high.
This is nothing unusual for Sabah, as illustrated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) raid in Sabah in October, when the country was convulsed by revelations of the rampant corruption in the Sabah Water Department, with the MACC assertion that 60 per cent of the RM3.3 billion earmarked by the federal government to improve water supply to residents, including those in remote areas in the Sabah State, had been “siphoned off” by corruption. Read the rest of this entry »
The 14GE objective is not only to remove the UMNO/BN federal government in Putrajaya but also the UMNO/BN state government in Sabah
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Sabah, Save Malaysia on Thursday, 29 December 2016
In September this year, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that if there is a four per cent swing against UMNO/BN in the 14th General Election, the UMNO/BN coalition would lose 45 seats, the majority of which are UMNO seats.
This would mean the UMNO/BN coalition getting even less seats than what the Pakatan Rakyat won in the 13th General Election.
With the loss of 45 seats, the UMNO/BN coalition would be reduced to 88 parliamentary seats and would occupy the Opposition benches in Parliament.
Muhyiddin should know what he is talking about as he was the Election Director of UMNO/BN coalition until he was summarily sacked as Deputy Prime Minister because of his disagreement with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak over the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal.
We do not want to have a phoney or fake opposition to win some 25 parliamentary seats in the 14GE and to play the role of “king-maker” who could throw their lot and support to the UMNO/BN coalition to ensure that Najib Razai can continue as Prime Minister, although Najib won an even lower percentage of voter support than in the 13GE in 2013!
Is it possible to ensure a four per cent swing of voters against the UMNO/BN coalition in the 14th General Election? Read the rest of this entry »
Law Firms’ Accounts Pose Money-Laundering Risk
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals on Tuesday, 27 December 2016
By RACHEL LOUISE ENSIGN and SERENA NG
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Dec. 26, 2016
Hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly siphoned from Malaysian state fund 1MDB passed through firms’ pooled accounts in U.S., prosecutors say
Tens of billions of dollars every year move through opaque law-firm bank accounts that create a gap in U.S. money-laundering defenses, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
These accounts were used by suspects in a multibillion-dollar scandal involving a Malaysian state investment fund known as 1MDB, according to a Justice Department description of events. They also played a part in a Florida Ponzi scheme, in a case related to an official of Equatorial Guinea and in a dozen other U.S. money-laundering cases over the past decade, case records show.
Law firms lump together client money they are holding for short periods, such as while real-estate sales are pending, into pooled bank accounts, and the law firms face no requirement to disclose whose cash is in the accounts. Banks say they generally see only a law firm’s name.
Money often stays in the accounts for only a few days or weeks. At the request of law firms’ clients, funds can be sent from the accounts to other parties, with scant transparency.
While banks and other firms that move money across borders face heavy pressure to alert regulators to suspicious activity, U.S. law firms protect the confidentiality of their pooled accounts in the name of attorney-client privilege. Read the rest of this entry »
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