A former top civil servant who had previously helmed a key ministry and subsequently several important strategic government agencies whom I met today lamented at the deplorable state of affairs in the country where the Attorney-General could be so worked up as to appeal against the acquittal of dancer Bilquis Hijjas for insulting behavior by dropping yellow balloons during an official event attended by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his wife in a mall last August, yet could be so numb and insensitive as to be completely unconcerned about the shame felt by Malaysians at the nation’s new infamy as a “global kleptocracy”.

What indeed has happened to Malaysia? Read the rest of this entry »

By SAURABH CHATURVEDI and JAKE MAXWELL WATTS
Wall Street Journal
Oct. 10, 2016

Charges include forgery and failing to report a suspicious transaction

SINGAPORE—Prosecutors charged two former private bankers Monday with forgery and other criminal charges in the latest legal salvo related to the alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars from Malaysian state development fund 1MDB.

Yak Yew Chee, 57 years old, and Yvonne Seah, 45, were charged in Singapore’s state courts with three counts each of forgery and four counts each of failing to report suspicious transactions between 2012 and 2014, during their employment by the Singapore branch of Swiss private bank BSI SA.

Mr. Yak was the relationship manager for accounts held at BSI by subsidiaries of 1MDB, according to investigators and people familiar with the bank’s operations. Ms. Seah, whose full Chinese name is Seah Yew Foong, was a senior private banker at the firm.

No pleas were entered. Both defendants were released on bail after the hearing and couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations are in order to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for the “biggest corruption bust ever” in the nation’s history with the success of its “Op Water” with the seizure of RM114million from the top two officials of the Sabah Water Department, including RM53.7mil in cold hard cash that took more than 30 officers 15 hours to count and frozen RM60 million in bank accounts, seized 19.3 kg of gold jewellery worth about RM3.64 million, some 97 designer ladies handbags worth RM500,000, nine luxury vehicles and some 127 land titles.

This is the biggest seizure involving civil servants as the most the anti-corruption agency had confiscated in the past was RM10 million.

While Malaysians are agog at the scale and magnitude of the ill-gotten gains seized by the MACC in Sabah, there is no real surprise and no elation among Malaysians that MACC’s Op Water marked its coming of age as a fully independent and professional anti-corruption agency able to combat the scourge of corruption in Malaysia without fear or favour, whether against ikan bilis or the sharks.

In fact, MACC’s Op Water had deepened public skepticism and cynicism about the battle against corruption in Malaysia, as Malaysians are convinced that if there is a full-fledged and no-holds-barred anti-corruption war in Malaysia, Op Water seizure would pale into insignificance in scale and magnitude with regard to the ill-gotten gains involved, as they would not just be in tens or hundreds of millions of ringgit, but in tens or a hundred times in billions and tens of billions of ringgit!

I fully agree with former MACC advisory panel member, Tan Sri Robert Phang, who want the MACC to probe the higher ups involved, as the two high-ranking civil servants in the Sabah Water Department could be frontmen for certain politicians, as it is difficult to believe that the duo had by themselves managed to amass the millions of ringgit seized from them. Read the rest of this entry »

By JOHN LETZING
Wall Street Journal
Oct. 6, 2016

The Swiss attorney general’s office made an initial request for assistance last January

ZURICH—Swiss authorities said they are trying to advance a probe into the alleged misappropriation of billions of dollars from a Malaysian state investment fund but haven’t yet received anticipated help from Malaysian counterparts.

Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General said in a statement on Wednesday that its probe, begun in August last year, had uncovered an alleged “Ponzi scheme” at the fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB.

Malaysia’s attorney general said Thursday that it had not yet received the additional request for assistance from Switzerland. It didn’t mention an earlier request from January, which Swiss officials say is pending but said it was committed to international cooperation. Read the rest of this entry »

The news today that President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is on a working visit to Malaysia and will have a meeting with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is very troubling to Malaysians deeply concerned about democracy and human rights as well as integrity and good governance.

Will the Najib-Mugabe meeting be a get-together and note-exchanging between one the world’s oldest surviving kleptocrats and the latest new kleptocrat on the block?

The term “kleptocrat” was only coined in the late 1990s to describe African dictators like Joseph Mobutu, Sani Abacha and Robert Mugabe plundering their own countries.

Wikipedia defines “kleptocracy” as “power, rule by thieves” and is applied to a government seen as having a particularly severe and systemic problem with officials or a ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats) taking advantage of corruption to extend their personal wealth and political power. Typically this system involves the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. Read the rest of this entry »

I have given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak three questions on the 1MDB global financial scandal in next month’s Parliament, viz:

1. To ask the Prime Minister whether he is “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” mentioned in the US Department of Justice lawsuit seeking forfeiture of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets and what action he had taken as a result.

2. To ask the Prime Minister when the government learnt that the United States authorities were carrying out investigations into the embezzlement and money-laundering of 1MDB funds under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative and what actions the government had taken.

3. To ask the Prime Minister what co-operation Malaysian government has given to various governments and international institutions investigating various aspects of the 1MDB financial scandal. Read the rest of this entry »

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a very surprising statement during his visit to Germany when asked about international investigations on multibillion dollar 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering.

He said that Malaysia would cooperate with US and other international authorities investigating the embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of funds from the Malaysian state-owned 1MDB that he founded.

Najib said: “We are equally concerned about good governance in Malaysia and the rule of law.

“So within the bounds of good governance and the rule of law, Malaysia will do its best to cooperate and to do whatever is necessary.”

Isn’t such a statement by Najib not only too little and too late, but totally lacking in credibility?

Why only make such a statement in Germany more than two months after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits on July 20 on the forfeiture of over US$1billion of assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, from over US$3billion embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds, (implicating the Prime Minister himself as identified by a Cabinet Minister that the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” mentioned in the US DOJ indictment is none other than Najib himself) and months after several countries like Singapore and Switzerland had taken action against banks, financial institutions and their staff in their countries for being involved in the international conspiracy on money-laundering of 1MDB funds? Read the rest of this entry »

by Alex Ritman
The Hollywood Reporter
9/12/2016

Save Rivers, which is active in Malaysia, and Ambiga Sreenevasan, recipient of the U.S. International Women of Courage Award, are the latest to speak out about money linked to a corruption scandal.

Leonardo DiCaprio dropped by the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday to present the world premiere of his latest environmental doc Before the Flood, directed by Fisher Stevens, to a packed audience at the Princess of Wales theater.

The film, which follows the Oscar-winning U.N. Messenger for Peace around the world as he sees the devastating effects of climate change firsthand, was warmly received, The Hollywood Reporter’s John DeFore describing it as “well-intentioned,” noting the special access available to its star, who speaks to John Kerry, Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

But the very same day Before the Flood bowed at TIFF, another charity added its voice to a growing list of organizations and activists criticizing DiCaprio’s association with individuals connected to a major corruption scandal and called on him to return millions of dollars in donations made to his environmental charity. Read the rest of this entry »

Wartawan Sinar Harian
11 September 2016

PENGUNDURAN bekas Menteri Kewangan II, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah daripada Kabinet dan Umno menimbulkan tanda tanya banyak pihak.

Sebelum ini, Ahmad Husni pernah berkata hanya mahu tumpu tugasnya sebagai ahli parlimen tanpa mengulas lanjut tentang tindakan diambilnya. Sinar Harian berpeluang bertemu Ahli Parlimen Tambun itu mengenai perkembangan terbarunya dan sudi menceritakan detik-detik yang membawa beliau mengambil keputusan berundur.

Bila Datuk Seri lepaskan semua jawatan kerajaan dan parti, kecuali sebagai wakil rakyat, masih ramai yang tidak puas hati dengan kenyataan ringkas Datuk Seri. Boleh ulas sedikit apa yang mendorong kepada tindakan itu?

Saya ada terfikir untuk letakkan jawatan tahun lalu. Saya tetapkan pada Januari 2016 sebagai tarikh akhir dalam Kabinet. Saya telah bincang dengan setiausaha politik menyatakan rasa tidak serasi dengan pembawaan pimpinan. Bila tiba Januari, saya rasa tidak tergamak pula untuk meletakkan jawatan, saya terus berkhidmat. Kemudian, pada April lalu niat hendak meletak jawatan kembali dan semakin kuat. Pada awal April itu, saya membeli alat bacaan tekanan darah untuk isteri bila pulang dari pejabat. Tiba di rumah jam 7 malam, saya pasang pada tangan saya untuk tunjuk pada isteri cara hendak menggunakan alat tersebut. Tetapi, saya pula yang terkejut apabila bacaan tekanan darah saya begitu tinggi. Read the rest of this entry »

Until 18 months ago, 1MDB was a national scandal, the subject of constant parliamentary questions and badgering by DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua and the PKR MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli the previous five years – with Pua asking his first question in Parliament about the 1MDB scandal with regard to the rationale of 1MDB investment in PertroSaudi International as far back as March 2010.

But 18 months ago, the 1MDB scandal escalated and graduated from a national into an international scandal.

I remember I was in Labis on the evening of 1st March 2015 to take part in a DAP Chinese New Year kopitiam ceramah, and just before my turn to speak, I read on the Internet the shocking expose by the Sarawak Report whistleblower website in its “Heist of the Century” article which announced that together with London Sunday Times, they had completed an in-depth investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

It claimed to have obtained access to thousands of documents and emails relating to transactions by 1MDB, including its initial joint venture with the little known oil company PetroSaudi International from 2009.

It alleged that the documents establish that, in spite of copious official denials, the entire joint venture project was conceived, managed and driven through by the Prime Minister’s associate and family friend the party-loving billionaire tycoon, Jho Low and that the documents also prove that the USD$700 million so-called “loan” that was supposedly repaid to PetroSaudi as part of the joint venture agreement, was actually a “front” to channel the money to a company controlled by Jho Low.

It was a shocking tale about the makings of the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history. At the time, the figure quoted for the 1MDB scandal was RM42 billion, which was already the greatest of all the financial scandals in the country, eclipsing even the worst and biggest of financial scandals in the country’s history, whether the RM2.5 billion BMF (Bumiputra Malaysia Finance) scandal, Bank Negara forex exchange scandal, Maminco, MAS and Perwaja scandals.

Now the 1MDB scandal would have ballooned easily from RM42 billion to RM55 billion as the RM42 billion figure was for 1MDB liabilities on March 2014 – some 30 months ago – as the audited accounts for 1MDB for the past two years remain in the realm of mystery to the public including parliamentarans!

The tragedy of the 1MDB scandal is that in retrospect, all the grave allegations whether in the Sarawak Report in the article “Heist of the Century”, or in international newspapers like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, both before and after the “Heist in the Century” article, had withstood the test of time and neither 1MDB nor the Malaysian Government had been able to puncture or cast doubt on the veracity of anyone of the serious and myriad allegations about the theft, embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of billions of ringgit of 1MDB funds – with the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” cast like a spider at the centre of the spider web. Read the rest of this entry »

By TOM WRIGHT
Wall Street Journal
Sept. 11, 2016

Documents show $6 million in credit-card spending by Rosmah Mansor

A major financial scandal swirling around the Malaysian prime minister is drawing fresh attention to his glamorous wife, Rosmah Mansor, who newly revealed documents show has racked up at least $6 million in credit card charges in recent years—despite having no known source of income beyond her husband’s salary.

At an anticorruption rally last month in Kuala Lumpur, hundreds of students, young professionals and other demonstrators took to the streets behind a cardboard caricature of a meticulously coiffed woman carrying a Hermès handbag, demanding an investigation into Ms. Rosmah’s finances.

“She said she saved that money since she was small. That is impossible,” said Anis Syafiqah Mohd. Yusuf, a 24-year-old student from the University of Malaya who helped organize the protest.

Ms. Rosmah’s jewel-bedecked public appearances have long made her a polarizing figure in this relatively poor, Southeast Asian country. She is the only child of schoolteachers, hasn’t had a regular paying job in years and her husband, Prime Minister Najib Razak, is a longtime bureaucrat with an annual salary of $100,000.

Ms. Rosmah, 64 years old, says she has a habit of saving. “I have bought some jewelry and dresses with my own money. What is wrong with that?” she wrote in her 2013 autobiography. Read the rest of this entry »

The following was written three days after the live telecast of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 59th National Day Message urging Malaysians to treasure “moments of unity” so that Malaysian can become great and respected the world over as “a glittering eastern star”:

“Semenjak Merdeka, tidak ada satu tahun di mana kita menyambut kemerdekaan dalam keadaan negara seperti tahun ini, di mana pemimpin-pemimpin Kerajaan menghadapi krisis integriti yang paling serius dan imej yang paling teruk. Sebabnya boleh disimpulkan dengan satu perkataan: rasuah.

“Umumnya, pemimpin-pemimpin politik sudah tidak boleh hendak dihormati dan diteladani untuk tujuan yang baik lagi. Selain daripada mereka disorak (cheered) oleh penyokong-penyokong mereka yang berkepentingan, yang mengharapkan sesuatu habuan atau yang tidak tahu dan terikut-ikut, paling tinggi, mereka hanya ditolerated oleh pegawai-pegawai awam yang berkerja di bawah mereka dan tiada pilihan. Dalam keadaan itu, kita lihat, masa depan negara menurun dan menurun.”

Was this written by political leaders from DAP, PKR or AMANAH in Pakatan Harapan? Or was it by former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir?

None of the above. It was penned by a former topmost public official, former Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad who held the highest judicial post in the land from 2007 to 2008.

It reeks of contempt by public officials, especially former top public servants, for the government of the day because of rampant corruption in the country.

How can Malaysia command the respect of the world as “a glittering eastern star” when there is so much contempt for the government of the day not only by the intelligentsia in Malaysia, but by the public officials and former public officials? Read the rest of this entry »

The Cabinet meeting today should endorse the BBC admission by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan that “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (“MO1”) is Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and it should authorize the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to re-open police investigations into the 1MDB scandal taking into account the information in the DOJ forfeiture lawsuit.

This is for two reasons: Firstly, at least two Ministers, namely the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong and the Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Noh Omar have expressed ignorance of the identity of “MO1” when asked by the press after Abdul Rahman’s BBC interview.

Secondly, the reasons given by Abdul Rahman that Najib was not named directly was because he was not part of the investigation by the various United States agencies under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is not a good, credible or tenable reason for the Malaysian police to turn a blind-eye to the series of criminal conduct unveiled by the DOJ lawsuits on the embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of US$3.5 1MDB funds for the forfeiture of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Apart from the five persons named in the DOJ lawsuits – Jho Low, Raja Shahrir Aziz bin Abdul Aziz, “Eric” Tan, Khadem Abdulla AL QUBAISI and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy AL-HUSSEINY – four persons were referred by code, viz “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1”, “1MDB OFFICER 1”, “1MDB OFFICER 2” and “1MDB OFFICER 3”.

The Government through Abdul Rahman has admitted that “MO1” is Najib. The identity of “1MDB Officers 1, 2 and 3” are also easy to identify, namely Casey Tang Keng Chee who served as executive director of 1MDB from the time of its creation until approximately March 2011 as “1MDB Officer 1”; Datuk Shahrol Halmi who was 1MDB chief executive officer from the beginning to March 2013 as “1MDB Officer 2” and Jasmine Loo Ai Swan, previously 1MDB’s general counsel and executive director of group strategy, as “1MDB Officer 3”.

Both Casey Tang and Jasmine Loo are on the Bank Negara “wanted list”, sought by the Malaysian authorities in connection with financial crimes with regard to the 1MDB funds.

In the case of Shahrol, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament on April 6 had recommended action to be taken against him as he must take responsibility for the 1MDB global scandal. Read the rest of this entry »

Imagine a Minister who can be confused between a turtle egg and a chicken egg accusing me of being confused between a civil and criminal case over the US Department of Justice (DOJ) billion-dollar forfeiture lawsuits over 1MDB-linked assets in the world’s biggest single kleptocracy and money-laundering action and the mystery of MO1!

Sabri may be hoping that the world’s biggest kleptocracy and money-laundering 1MDB scandal will end up like his “turtle-egg” scandal – lost in a maze of contradictory statements, denials and bureaucratic inertia.

Can Sabri enlighten Malaysians what is the outcome of his “turtle egg” scandal in Sandakan last August?

When Sabri’s “turtle egg” scandal first broke in November last year about his feast of “turtle eggs” with Beluran UMNO division chief James Ratib in Sandakan three months earlier, he put the blame squarely on Beluran UMNO as the organiser of the function responsible for serving turtle eggs.

Sabri denied eating turtle eggs as he had eaten fish at the dinner, claiming that it had been “a long time since I’ve eaten turtle eggs” as it is “high in cholesterol”.

When Sabri said it was “a long time since I’ve eaten turtle eggs”, was it a confession he had violated the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 which protected turtle eggs under Section 41(1) with a fine of RM50,000 or a jail sentence of up to five years, or both, upon conviction?

Later, new photographs appeared in the social media showing a half-eaten, full-boiled egg on Sabri’s dinner plate, and the fresh evidence provided a new impetus to the investigations by the Sabah Wildlife Department.

Sabri should tell Malaysians of the outcome of the investigations into the “turtle egg” dinner of the Umno Beluran division meeting dinner at Restoran Indah Keranamu in Sandakan in August last year before his creates new confusion over the 1MDB global scandal which is clearly completely out of his depths. Read the rest of this entry »