Archive for category Financial Scandals
MACC should do soul-searching why its credibility on war against corruption in high political places is zero and explain why it has failed to land a single shark in the past six years
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 30 June 2015
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should come out of its cushy air-conditioned offices and go to the ground and do a soul-searching why its credibility on the war against corruption in high political places is zero, whether the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, the MARA property corruption scandal blowing up in Melbourne or the recent Wall Street Journal expose that 1MDB funds were used to bankroll Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s campaign in the 13th general elections.
It is a reflection of the MACC’s utter lack of credibility and impotence as far as fighting corruption in high political places is concerned that 10 days after the Wall Street Journal report (June 19) on electoral abuses and corruption in the 13th General Elections, several NGOs, led by Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) and Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) had to gather at the MACC to demand action by the anti-corruption agency yesterday.
What have the MACC officials been doing in the past 10 days over the WSJ report?
Just twiddling thumbs?
Have MACC officers called in the officers and personnel from 1MDB, Genting Plantations and Yayasan Rakyat 1Malaysia (YRIM) in the past 10 days to begin investigations arising from the Wall Street Journal report?
Has the MACC opened a file to investigate whether Najib as Prime Minister had misused his position and channel funds from 1MDB to bankroll his 13GE campaign?
Or has absolutely nothing been done on the Wall Street Journal report in the past 10 days? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians owe debt of eternal gratitude to Wan Junaidi who resolved week-long mystery about allegations of Justo’s 1MDB “tampered emails” – no evidence whatsoever but just “logical assumption”!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 30 June 2015
Malaysians owe the Deputy Home Minister, Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar a debt of eternal gratitude for he has resolved a mystery which had vexed thinking Malaysians for a week – the allegations of about 1MDB “tampered emails” which surfaced after the arrest of Swiss national and former PetroSaudi International (PSI) IT executive, Xavier Andre Justo at a house in Koh Samui, Thailand the previous Monday (June 22).
Type in “1MDB tampered email” in Google search and there will be scores of news report about the allegations about “tampered emails” associated with the 1MDB scandal – all a week-old vintage after Justo’s arrest.
For months and years since the surfacing of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, nobody had ever raised the issue of “tampered emails”.
Even after shocking expose four months ago when the whistleblower website Sarawak Report in its article “Heist of the Century” of Feb. 28 announced that together with London Sunday Times, they have completed an in-depth investigation into “thousands of documents and emails” relating to the transactions by 1MDB, including its initial joint venture with the little-known oil company PetroSaudi International from 2009, nobody had breathed a word about “tampered emails”.
Even the police report lodged in the United Kingdom at the London Police’s National Fraud and Cyber Crime Report Centre by PSI on March 1 was not about “tampered emails” but about confidential emails and servers had been hacked into and the contents made public.
Why did the issue of “tampered emails” burst into the public domain and only after the arrest of Justo, but only in Malaysia but not elsewhere in the world and not even in Thailand where Justo was arrested for blackmail – with one Minister after another assuming that it is Gospel truth and threatening action against the media and all and sundry who spoke up on the 1MDB scandal? Read the rest of this entry »
A new RM17.8 bil twist in 1MDB ‘guarantee’
Posted by Kit in DAP, Financial Scandals, Parliament on Tuesday, 30 June 2015
P. GUNASEGARAM
KiniBiz
JUNE 29, 2015
TIGERTALK
Tony Pua and 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) are in dispute over whether there’s a government guarantee or not over US$4.71 bil (RM17.8 bil) IPIC loans to the latter. But taking off the semantics and just maintaining the meaning shows Pua is clearly right.
Latest developments at self-styled strategic development company 1MDB indicates yet again that it is not fully forthcoming on the problems that are affecting it, in this case a loan and guarantee arrangement between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS involving US$4.5 billion (RM17 billion).
MP Tony Pua first highlighted this referring to a London Stock Exchange (LSE) statement by IPIC on changes to its debt settlement arrangements with IPIC. Presumably, since IPIC is an international borrower whose debts are listed on the LSE, it had to make those disclosures to the exchange.
That IPIC statement clearly sets out obligations under the debt settlement agreement. Essentially, the terms covered were as follows:
*on 4 June 2015, IPIC provided US$1 billion to 1MDB for it to immediately settle some liabilities. On the same day IPIC assumed obligations to pay (on an interim basis) all interest due under two IPIC guaranteed 1MDB financings amounting to US$3.5 billion.
*by 30 June 2016, about a year from now, IPIC is to have received a transfer of assets representing the RM1 billion cash payment, the US$3.5 billion debt and any debt forgiveness.
*Upon the completion of the transfer of assets, IPIC will directly assume liability for all payment obligations under the US$3.5 billion debt and forgive certain financial obligations of the 1MDB Group to the IPIC Group.
*Finally, 1MDB and MOF (Ministry of Finance) have agreed to perform the obligations in the binding term sheet and to indemnify IPIC and Aabar for any non-performance, and vice versa. IPIC has met the US1 billion cash payment and will meet the interim interest payments under the US$3.5 billion debt from existing liquidity available.
From the fourth condition, it emerged clearly that the MOF now also assumes liability together with 1MDB for transferring the necessary assets to IPIC. Read the rest of this entry »
National and international shame that Malaysia’s anti-corruption ranking so low when MACC sets world record with the greatest superstructure with the most number of bodies monitoring it to uphold integrity and accountability
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Teoh Beng Hock on Monday, 29 June 2015
It is no use the Anti-Corruption Advisory Board coming out with a sanctimonious statement that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should be given room to conduct a full and thorough investigation into the MARA property corruption scandal in Australia, and urging “all parties, including politicians” to refrain from making statements which could jeopardise the image of MACC.
Both the MACC and its Advisory Board should know that it is its own record and performance as an anti-corruption fighter which is the most powerful determinant of its image whether it is a fearless and feared anti-corruption fighter or just a “toothless tiger” as far as the corrupt among the “high and mighty” in the political world is concerned.
Next month is the sixth death anniversary of innocent DAP aide, Teoh Beng Hock, who lost his life in the very sanctum of MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on 16th July 2009, and up to now, no MACC officer has yet been penalised for Teoh’s death.
If MACC cannot even ensure that is officers uphold integrity and accountability in the death of Teoh Beng Hock, is it any wonder that public confidence in the MACC’s commitment to wage an all-out war against corruption and to upold integrity in high political places is virtually non-existent?
The MARA property corruption scandal in Australia will be an acid test whether the MACC is going to start showing that it has teeth and claws as far as fighting the corrupt among the high and mighty in the political world is concerned, or that MACC is only capable of abusing the powers as in the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Ahmad Sarbani Mohamad in April 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
MACC may be guilty of gross incompetence and inefficiency if after tip-off in March, it still have to sent officer to Melbourne to investigate MARA Inc property corruption as if fresh from scratch
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals on Sunday, 28 June 2015
I could not believe my eyes when I read the Bernama report in The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
Entitled “Mara Inc to open doors to Melbourne property deal probe”, the report quoted the MARA Inc Chairman Datuk Mohammad Lan Allani and the MARA Inc Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Halim Rahim in a joint statement as saying:
“We welcome any investigation or inquiry in respect to our investment, locally and internationally.
“We will pledge our full cooperation and assistance to the relevant authorities for a fair and transparent investigation on the matter or any other matters in respect of MARA Incorporated Sdn Bhd”.
What impertinence! What impudence! Read the rest of this entry »
Empire Strikes Back (Part IV) – is the script for 1MDB executives Arul and Shahrol to walk out of PAC hearings, probably escorted by Shafee as their counsel, and boycott of PAC proceedings on 1MDB on the ground that Tony Pua has not stepped down as PAC member?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Good Governance, Najib Razak, Parliament on Sunday, 28 June 2015
The highly-paid Public Relations Consultants of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and 1MDB (as Najib is both in law and fact the final approving authority of 1MDB) have gone into an overdrive of offensives since the arrest of former PetroSaudi International (PSI) IT executive, Xavier Andre Justo in Thailand six days ago for attempting to blackmail his former employer on leaked information.
One can already discern four chapters in “The Empire Strikes Back” offensives overdrive:
Chapter 1 – the arrest of the 49-year-old Justo, a Swiss national and former PSI IT executive at around 3 pm on Monday (June 22) at a house in Koh Samui, Thailand with computers, hard drives and other data storage devices.
Chapter 2 – Campaign of demonisation and character-assassination of Justo led by UMNO media like the New Straits Times portraying Justo as a “hedonistic” and “greedy” blackmailer with a photograph of him covered in tattoos on its front-page.
Chapter 3 – Vague and unsubstantiated allegations by Malaysian Cabinet Ministers of tampered leaked information about the 1MDB scandal and threats by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi against the media under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) for reporting “tampered” and inaccurate facts about the 1MDB scandal, again without any substantiation of these allegations.
Are we now in Chapter 4 of “The Empire Strikes Back”, featuring Najib’s choice prosecutor Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah who accomplished the mission to ensure that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is now incarcerated in Sungai Buloh prison as a result of Anwar’s Sodomy II trial. Read the rest of this entry »
Emails are not the cause of 1MDB’s financial troubles, but we will defer to the home minister
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Media, Zahid on Sunday, 28 June 2015
BY THE EDGE MALAYSIA
The Malaysian Insider
27 June 2015
There are now allegations that emails published by The Edge in recent months about certain dealings between 1MDB and PetroSaudi International were doctored and forged.
This follows the arrest of a former top PetroSaudi executive in Thailand on accusations that he extorted his ex-employer.
Certain media have also quoted unnamed security experts as saying the emails were tampered with or forged.
As a consequence, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has issued a warning that The Edge could be suspended. Read the rest of this entry »
Both Annuar Musa and MACC should explain whether MARA and MACC have received earlier tip-off about corruption of MARA Inc property purchase in Melbourne, and if so, why no action until The Age expose on Tuesday
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Saturday, 27 June 2015
The Najib administration continues to tie itself in knots, in one scandal after another.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that MARA officials named in Australian newspaper The Age’s report on the Melbourne property scandal are innocent until proven guilty.
He said no action can be taken against them based on a “trial by media” as they must be thoroughly investigated first.
“No action has been taken against them yet. Investigation must be done to determine whether they broke the law,” Najib told a press conference after chairing Umno’s supreme council meeting.
“We cannot take action based on suspicion or a trial by media or social media. It must be based on the rule of law. You are deemed innocent until proven guilty.”
He said the government would remain transparent over the case and assured that the scandal would be thoroughly investigated.
This is very different from the tenor of the statement made by the MARA Chairman, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday to submit several documents relating to the purchase of properties in Australia by MARA Inc. Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB Scandal – The Empire Strikes Back after four months
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Zahid on Saturday, 27 June 2015
Since the arrest of the former PetroSaudi International (PSI) IT executive in Koh Samui, Thailand at around 3 pm on Monday (June 22) for attempting to blackmail his former employer on leaked information, we have seen “The Empire Strikes Back” on the six-year 1MDB scandal in Malaysia.
Suddenly, some Ministers have becoming quite articulate on the 1MDB scandal, with the Home Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi claiming ominously that the former PSI executive Xavier Andre Justo in his interrogation by Thai police had implicated several Malaysians who had asked him to manipulate the leaked information which was passed to whistleblower site Sarawak Report.
He even said Putrajaya was prepared to extradite these individuals if there is request from Bangkok.
Zahid also threatened to act against local media that used the leaked information which had been the source of unremitting embarrassment to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak since the end of February when the Sarawak Report website and London’s Sunday Times newspaper reported in-depth investigations into the trail of the missing 1MDB missing billions after gaining 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.
PSI’s leaked information included communications with 1MDB that had embroiled the latter in controversy as it highlighted questionable transfer of funds to a company controlled by Malaysian billionaire Jho Low, who is close to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s family.
PSI and 1MDB have yet to deny these allegations but both insisted that it is based on “tampered” evidence.
Zahid appears to be unfazed when a police source from Thailand’s crime suppression division, which arrested Justo, told Malaysiakini that Interpol and the Malaysian authorities were not involved in the investigation. Read the rest of this entry »
Why did Annuar make the U-turn in 48 hours from National Economic Council chaired by Najib approving the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by Mara Inc to Najib opposing the Melbourne purchase?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 26 June 2015
MARA Chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa should explain why he made the U-turn in 48 hours from saying at his media conference on Wednesday that the National Economic Council chaired by the Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, had approved the Melbourne Dudley Street property deal by MARA Inc. to his statement today that Najib had actually opposed the Melbourne purchase?
Annuar should know that this is the 21st century and Information Age and he cannot just behave like monarchs of olden days when information could be controlled and manipulated for him to wilfully and arbitrarily insist that he had never said what he had actually uttered, or that he had been misunderstood or his statements had been twisted when what he said was crystal-clear.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Annuar could complain that the latter’s statement had been “twisted” by news portals like Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider to mean that Najib had personally approved the purchase, when the decision to buy Dudley House in Melbourne was made by the National Economic Council by consensus.
Or in the subsequent words of Annuar in his Facebook: ‘There is no question of approval by any individual, including the prime minister. As I said, it was approved by the National Economic Council and done according to procedure. I hope this is clear.”
Najib and Annuar were only trying to quibble that it is wrong to say that Najib had given approval for the Dudley House purchase when it was decided by the National Economic Council by consensus although chaired by Najib. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to review the decision not to investigate serious allegation of 1MDB’s indirect funding of BN’s 13GE campaign
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 24 June 2015
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should review its decision not to investigate the serious allegation of 1MDB’s indirect funding of Barisan Nasional’s (BN) 13th General Election campaign with public funds.
It is surprising that the PAC chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed has decided that the PAC would not investigate into the 1MDB’s indirect funding of BN’s 13th General Election campaign, telling Malay Mail Online that it was premature to claim wrongdoing in Genting Plantations’ US$10 million donation to a Barisan Nasional-linked charity, Yayasan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (YR1M) which used the funds for the 13GE campaigning.
After the Wall Street Journal expose, “Fund Controversy Threatens Malaysia’s Leader” last Friday that Genting Plantations contributed US$10 million to YR1M after its parent sold a power plant to 1MDB five times its actual value for RM23 billion when the plant was only worth RM400 million, it was naïve for Jazlan to say that Genting Plantations could have made the donation for a variety of reasons, including CSR (corporate social responsibility).
Although Jazlan said there is nothing wrong with corporates making CSR contributions, the PAC will be seriously remiss and negligent of its parliamentary duties to uphold probity and integrity in the handling public funds if it ignores the prima facie case that grave impropriety in expenditure of public funds had been committed in 1MDB’s indirect funding of BN’s 13th General Election campaign.
PAC must get to the bottom of the Wall Street Journal report that 1MDB paid inflated prices for energy assets from Genting Group whose subsidiary later contributed to YR1M that is linked to BN and which featured during the campaign for the 13GE. Read the rest of this entry »
Will 1MDB fallout push Najib out?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
By P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Jun 18, 2015
QUESTION TIME 1MDB’s impact on the financial markets is more than just worry about whether potential defaults will impact the banking system and whether the government’s finances will be adversely affected when it stands by to honour 1MDB’s many obligations.
These questions have been largely answered – the central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, has already said that 1MDB does not pose a systemic risk to the domestic banking sector, although it may depress the profits of some banks.
Various analysts believe that the federal government, which owns all of 1MDB through Minister of Finance Inc, has the capacity to take care of 1MDB’s obligations, which amount to RM42 billion.
So why is the ringgit more depressed than it should be and what is really the concern about the situation in the country? The problem is not directly related to the economy but politics. An increasing number of people are considering how the overall political situation in the country will change if Najib Abdul Razak, for whatever reason, decides to step down.
It is more than likely that it is the political situation which is causing the ringgit to be even more volatile than the currencies of other countries that have yo-yoed against the US dollar, but generally trended downwards against the greenback. That the US dollar is strengthening is indisputable, the roots being the strong possibility of upward increases in US interest rates some time later this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should begin a 1MDB Nothing2Hide confession starting with revelation what has happened to the RM3 billion which were “overprized” in acquisition of 15 power stations for RM18 billion
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 June 2015
The Wall Street Journal expose five days ago has probably started the end-game for the six-year RM42 billion 1MDB scandal with attention focussed on the question which the parliamentary duo, DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua and PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli, joined by former Prime Minister Tun Mahahtir, have repeatedly asked: “Where have the 1MDB billions disappeared to? Show us the money!”
The Wall Street Journal report, “Fund Controversy Threatens Malaysia’s Leader”, alleged that 1MDB had bought Genting Group’s power assets at an inflated price, and the group then made substantial donations to the 1MDB-linked charity YR1M.
YR1M had then allegedly bankrolled BN’s 13th general election, and is now funding social programmes in Sarawak where state elections are widely anticipated.
The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday 1MDB made overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012.
The price, which was equivalent to about US$740 million at the time, came to RM2.3 billion, around five times what it was worth.
Genting later reported it had a 1.9 billion ringgit extraordinary gain on this sale, implying a value for its stake in the power plant of just 400 million ringgit – or less than one-fifth what 1MDB paid for it. Read the rest of this entry »
Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious WSJ allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for 13GE?
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Monday, 22 June 2015
Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers to international publications but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious Wall Street Journal allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power four days ago about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for the 13th General Election campaigning two years ago?
Two weeks ago, the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman wrote an Open Letter to New York Times protesting against the interview by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir who touched on the 1MDB scandal, UMNO and accusations against Najib and expressing regret at Mahathir’s action “to undermine his own country through the international media as part of a personal political vendetta”.
In one fell swoop, the nation’s elder statesman and the longest-serving Prime Minister in the nation’s history has been reduced to an anti-national digit on the same level as other critics of the government-of-the-day who are accused of ignoble and even disloyal motives for bad-mouthing the government and the country.
It is the irony of ironies that Mahathir himself had himself made such allegations against his critics when he was Prime Minister for 22 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Scrap the 1MDB roadshows as they will end up as disastrously as the “Nothing2Hide” 1MDB Forum
Posted by Kit in Election, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Sarawak on Sunday, 21 June 2015
One of the most accident-prone government front-benchers, the Deputy Finance Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan announced yesterday that nation-wide roadshows to explain the 1MDB scandal and other government controversies will be launched at the state levels during the second week of Syawal.
I would advise the Federal government to scrap the 1MDB nation-wide roadshows as they will end up as disastrously as the “Nothing2Hide” 1MDB Forum at the Putra World Trade Centre in KL on June 5 where the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak ignominiously backed out of appearance because of Mahathir’s presence, unless Najib could immediately explain whether 1MDB funds had been misused for the UMNO/BN campaign in the 13th General Election, and are now being spent and misused in Sarawak for the forthcoming Sarawak state polls.
Najib’s thunderous silence on the third day of the Wall Street Journal expose on Friday that the 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit had been used to bankroll his 13th General Election campaign does not brook well that the Prime Minister’s credibility can recover with any “Public Relations” gimmicry like 1MDB nation-wide roadshows.
Why is Najib incapable of giving a detailed and convincing rebuttal to the Wall Street Journal allegation that one “trick” of using 1MDB billions of ringgit to bankroll Najib’s 13GE election campaign was through the artifice of 1MDB making overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012 – paying RM2.3 billion or around five times for a power plant that was only worth RM400 million, with Genting make a subsequent donation to a foundation controlled by Najib for the 13GE campaigning purposes. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s national per capita income increased 25-fold from 1970 to 2014 but Malaysia’s financial scandal increased by more than 63,000-fold from RM66 million in 1975 to RM42 billion today
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Sunday, 21 June 2015
When introducing the Eleven Malaysia Plan in Parliament last month, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak boasted that Malaysia’s national per capita income increased 25-fold from 1970 to 2014, rising from the ranks of a low-income economy in the 1970s to a high middle-income economy today.
What Najib did not tell Malaysians is that Malaysia’s financial scandal had increased by more than 63,0000-fold from the RM66 million Bank Rakyat scandal in 1975 to the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal of today!
No wonder that even the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir, who during his 22-year administration from 1981 to 2003, had chalked up a long series of financial scandals probably costing the country some RM100 billion, has come to forefront to demand accountability, transparency and good governance from the Najib premiership in utter disgust at the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history – the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal.
In the escalating Najib-Mahathir tussle for accountability, transparency and good governance over the 1MDB scandal, DAP leaders have been proven right that allegations of malpractices, abuses of power and even corruption in the 1MDB scandal in the past few years with DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua and the PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli spearheading the 1MDB exposes in the last four years had hit the nail on the head about the enormity and iniquity of the 1MDB scandal. Read the rest of this entry »
Hopes for achievement of PR Common Policy Objectives without PR in 14GE is not impossible as UMNO/BN in self-confessed terminal stages from being in “wad biasa”, “wad kecemasan”, “ICU’ and “tanah kubur”
Posted by Kit in Elections, Financial Scandals, Johore, Najib Razak on Saturday, 20 June 2015
Today is special for two reasons.
Firstly, it is Duanwu Festival, which the Chinese celebrate with zongzi or dumpling. It commemorates the death of the poet and minister Qu Yuan 2,355 years ago in ancient state of Chu during the Warring States period of the Zhou Dynasty, for his sacrifices in his principled stand against corruption and abuses of power.
Malaysia is today mired in the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history, the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, with new exposes almost everyday highlighting the lack of good governance, accountability and transparency in an administration which had at first boasted about National Transformation Programme and commitment to combat corruption and abuses of power in high political places.
The latest chapter in the 1MDB scandal is the Wall Street Journal expose yesterday alleging that the 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit were used to bank-roll Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib’s 13th General Election campaign.
Najib’s extraordinary and ominous silence, coupled with the failure by the Prime Minister either to announce his readiness to appear before the Public Accounts Committee to undergo full investigation on the Wall Street Journal allegations or institution of legal suit against Wall Street Journal for defamation signify that Najib does not lead a Nothing2Hide administration as he seems to have a lot of things to hide.
If Qu Yuan had been alive today, he would be in the forefront against such government abuses regardless of the cost to his life and future. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib cannot keep silent about the serious allegations by Wall Street Journal that 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit were used to bankroll his 13th General Election campaign
Posted by Kit in Election, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Saturday, 20 June 2015
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot keep silent about the serious allegations by Wall Street Journal yesterday that the 1MDB funds running into billions of ringgit were used to bank-roll his 13th General Election campaign.
A Wall Street Journal report yesterday said this was achieved by having 1MDB make overpriced purchase of power assets from Genting Group in 2012.
Genting then made a donation to a foundation controlled by Najib before the 13th general election and it claimed the funds were used for campaigning.
The WSJ report said:
“The 1MDB fund in October 2012 acquired a Genting unit that owned a 75 percent stake in a 720-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Kuala Lumpur.
“The price, which was equivalent to about US$740 million at the time, came to RM2.3 billion.
“A few months after the sale, a unit of Genting called Genting Plantations Bhd made a donation of about US$10 million to a Najib-linked charity, according to a spokesperson for Genting Plantations.”
Power Struggle in Malaysia Pits Former Premier Against a Protégé
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Thursday, 18 June 2015
By THOMAS FULLER and LOUISE STORY
New York Times
JUNE 17, 2015
Photo
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia — Malaysia’s governing party is at war with itself, embroiled in a power struggle that is destabilizing the country and threatening the party’s nearly six-decade stretch of uninterrupted governance.
The battle has revealed itself publicly in a nasty spat between two political titans. Mahathir Mohamad, a former prime minister who turns 90 next month, is the chief architect of a political insurgency aiming to oust the man he helped put into office six years ago, Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Having lost none of the combativeness honed during more than two decades in power, Mr. Mahathir is pressing allegations of malfeasance in a sovereign wealth fund, criticizing the “lavish” lifestyle of the prime minister’s wife, and has resurrected troubling questions about the murder of a Mongolian woman, the mistress of a former top aide to Mr. Najib.
“I’ve had quite a long time in government, and I’ve learned a few things,” Mr. Mahathir said in an interview at his office on Wednesday in Putrajaya, the administrative capital he built from scratch when he was prime minister.
Mr. Najib “wants to leave his own legacy,” he said. “But what he does is verging on criminal.” Read the rest of this entry »
Najib staged a second 1MDB “Nothing2Hide” disappearance when he absented himself from in Parliament yesterday to avoid having to personally answer the questions about the biggest financial scandal in nation’s history
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Tuesday, 16 June 2015
In ten days, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak staged a second 1MDB “Nothing2Hide” disappearance when he absented himself from Parliament yesterday to avoid having to personally answer the questions about the biggest financial scandal in the nation’s history.
Not only Members of Parliament from both sides of Parliament, but ordinary Malaysians are entitled to ask why the Prime Minister can give a special briefing to over 1,000 UMNO division information chiefs and selected NGO representatives on Sunday on the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, but he was not prepared to give similar briefing in Parliament the following day during the winding-up of the debate on the 11th Malaysia Plan?
Is this because the Sunday briefing for UMNO division information chiefs and selected NGO representatives was a tame one-way traffic and monologue while Najib would not be able to have a docile and timid audience in Parliament, especially as MPs, in particular DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua and PKR MP for Pandan, Rafizi Ramli would have endless minefields for the Prime Minister to negotiate if there is a genuine free-for-all in the Dewan Rakyat on the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal? Read the rest of this entry »
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