Archive for category Najib Razak
Salleh has lost the right to demand answers when he, as Minister for Communications and Multimedia, failed to answer numerous questions about government scandals and failings
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament, UMNO on Sunday, 18 December 2016
Recently, the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak indulged in spree of questions directed at the Opposition, Pakatan Harapan and PPBM.
It is a pity that Salleh did not realise that he has lost the right to ask questions when as Minister for Communications and Multimedia, which included the role and responsibility of the former Ministry of Information, he had failed to answer numerous questions about government scandals and failings.
If there is any Ministry which is assigned the responsibility of defending the government, it is Salleh’s Ministry, but realizing that much as he wanted, he is just incapable of defending the indefensible, Salleh is subtly trying to transform his Ministerial portfolio of answering questions on behalf of the government into one of asking questions about the Opposition.
In terms of Ministerial KPIs, Salleh is a big flop.
If Salleh expects answers to his questions, let him perform his Ministerial duty to answer questions about government scandals and failings, starting with the following five: Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia in an era of fake news, false cartoons and false allegations
Posted by Kit in DAP, Najib Razak, Pakatan Harapan, UMNO on Saturday, 17 December 2016
Malaysia is now in an era of fake news, false cartoons and false allegations.
Today, the Penang Chief Minister’s Office had to deny a Whatsapp message on Dec. 14 with a photograph of the Penang Chief Minister that Lim Guan Eng had supported the action against the Rohingya community in Myanmar.
The Chief Minister’s special assistant Zaidi Ahmad, lodged a police report on the fake news and said the whole objective of the fake Whatsapp message was a racialist slander to incite religious sentiments against the Chief Minister.
In actual fact, at the Penang Chief Minister’s initiative, the recent Penang State Assembly unanimously passed a motion condemning the atrocities against the Rohingyas.
I understand that there are also fake news and fake postings on the Internet alleging that I had also supported the oppression of the Rohingyas in Myanmar when on Dec. 6 I had called for an international inquiry into the ethnic cleansing of Rohginyas in Myanmar.
But the perpetrators of fake news, false cartoons and false allegations are no respecters of truth. Read the rest of this entry »
Thailand to free Swiss man linked to 1MDB scandal
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 16 December 2016
South China Morning Post
AFP
14 December, 2016
Thailand will free a Swiss man jailed for blackmail in a case linked to a graft scandal engulfing the 1MDB Malaysian state investment fund, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Xavier Justo was jailed last August for attempting to blackmail his former employer PetroSaudi International, a Saudi oil firm allegedly involved in corrupt dealings with Malaysian fund 1MDB.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who launched the scandal-mired 1MDB, has been besieged by allegations that he and his cronies looted billions of dollars from it, prompting calls for him to resign.
According to Thai police Justo was jailed after demanding around US$2.5 million from PetroSaudi to return sensitive company data he claimed to have taken before leaving the firm in 2011.
He was arrested on the Thai island of Koh Samui in June 2015 and handed a three-year sentence.
But on Wednesday his lawyer said he will get out early after a mass prisoner amnesty. Read the rest of this entry »
Ex-BSI Banker Seah Convicted of 3 Charges Tied to 1MDB Case
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 16 December 2016
by Andrea Tan and Melissa Cheok
Bloomberg
December 16, 2016
Yvonne Seah Yew Foong, a former BSI SA private banker, became the second person to be convicted in Singapore’s probe into alleged money laundering linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
Judge Salina Ishak found Seah guilty of three charges in a Singapore state court Friday for aiding in forging documents and failing to report suspicious transactions allegedly related to Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho. Prosecutors are taking into account four other charges in seeking a two-week jail sentence for Seah, 45, while her lawyer Peter Low asked for a fine.
Imposing a fine for the “well-heeled” like Seah isn’t a sufficient deterrent, prosecutor Nathaniel Khng said in seeking the prison term. Seah’s conduct had harmed Singapore’s reputation, he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian politics: ‘Mother of all battles’ shaping up
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Friday, 16 December 2016
Yang Razali Kassim
Straits Times Singapore
DEC 15, 2016
The ruling Umno-led coalition faces a challenge from a new opposition alliance led by two former allies: Mahathir and Anwar. Despite Umno’s confidence, the ground may be far from sweet in the coming general election.
The mother of all battles is shaping up in Malaysian politics as beleaguered Prime Minister Najib Razak pulled out all the stops to defend himself in the face of a reconfiguring opposition.
Putting his dominant party, Umno, on a war footing at its recently concluded annual general assembly, Datuk Seri Najib resorted to the Islamic doctrine of wala – or loyalty to the leader – as he manoeuvred to rally support and ready Umno for a general election.
The enabler was his No. 2, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who started the ball rolling by pledging his own loyalty to Mr Najib, who has been under siege since the outbreak of the scandal involving state development fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) last year.
Umno for the first time had to ward off an uprising against a sitting president led by a former prime minister and party president. In a single-minded drive to push Mr Najib out, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is leading a “people’s movement” to “Save Malaysia”. Having resigned from Umno in protest against Mr Najib, Dr Mahathir has joined the opposition, even reconciling with his former ally-turned-nemesis Anwar Ibrahim to revive their once powerful political partnership. Read the rest of this entry »
Anwar’s “Malaysia at the crossroads” article in Guardian should be compulsory reading for all Malaysians who care and are concerned about the nation’s future
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak on Thursday, 15 December 2016
Pakatan Harapan’s Prime Minister-designate Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s “Malaysia at the crossroads” article in the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom should be compulsory reading for all Malaysians who care and are concerned about the nation’s future.
Malaysia’s choice is stark and dire. In Anwar’s own words:
“Two decades ago Malaysia was arguably the bright spot of progress in the Muslim world. We believed then that our combination of economic growth and improving democratic engagement would be an example for other Muslim-majority countries. The past 20 years, however, have seen our country go from bad to worse politically and economically, driven by compromised democratic institutions and years of systematic abuse by the ruling elite to maintain their grip on power…
“This has put Malaysia at a crossroads: it can either return to its rightful place as a shining political and financial star in a developing world desperate for such successes; or it can descend to the role of yet another Muslim-majority country with a failing democracy and economy. Internationally, support for fundamental political reforms in Malaysia can help create a south-east Asian bloc of Muslim governments that will be a model for the rest of the world.”
Contrast Anwar’s article with the Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech on 1st December – the former infused with patriotic concern about Malaysia’s future despite its potential for greatness and capacity for good in the international society and the latter a small-minded and spiteful oratory reminiscent of Nazi-style “Big Lie” propaganda to pander to the most primordial sentiments by provoking the most elemental emotions of fear, hate and intolerance totally inimical to the objective of a democratic, harmonious and peaceful plural society. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Seizure of 1MDB Assets Moves on With Jho Low’s Family Sidelined
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 14 December 2016
by Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg
December 14, 2016
A U.S. effort to seize about $1 billion in assets allegedly acquired with funds siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. is moving ahead over objections from relatives of the Malaysian financier at the center of the scandal.
A Los Angeles federal judge’s ruling Monday blocking family members of Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, from intervening in the forfeiture lawsuits gives the government the upper hand as it seeks to confiscate properties including a $100-million interest in EMI Music Publishing Group, a $35 million Bombardier jet and a $380-million stake in the Park Lane Hotel in New York.
To fight back against the U.S. in Low’s absence, four of his relatives, including his father and brother, are trying to replace the Swiss trustees holding the assets that have declined to oppose the forfeiture. According to the family, the Swiss trustees fear being exposed to criminal liability if they get involved.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer refused in Monday’s ruling to give the relatives additional time to pursue legal action in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands, where they are trying to replace the trustees with others who are more willing to defend their interests. Read the rest of this entry »
Stop selective prosecution and discriminatory law enforcement – haul the persons responsible for the Zahid poison pen letter calling for Najib’s ouster to court but also prosecute all who disseminate lies or lodged false police reports against Opposition leaders
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Police, UMNO, Zahid on Tuesday, 13 December 2016
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the police have received over 20 police reports over the poison pen letter purportedly written by him urging BN parliamentarians and senators to pressure for the ouster of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He said he did not want to be involved (in the investigation) but he had been informed that the police were conducting a thorough investigation together with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to find the source (of the letter).
He told reporters: “I am sure whoever this is will face the legal consequences from the government.”
I agree that Malaysia has recently descended to the abyss of the politics of lies and falsehoods to create scare, fear, disharmony and hatred among the people and this deplorable political culture should not be allowed space and room to fester, which will poison not only politics in Malaysia but also the process of nation building to build a show-case of a successful harmonious multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural plural nation in this troubled world.
Those responsible for the poison pen letter dated Dec. 9 which had circulated through social media and WhatsApp purported to be from Zahid and urged BN parliamentarians and senators to pressure Najib Abdul Razak to step down was delivering a very low and despicable blow.
But who was really responsible for the Zahid poison-pen letter? Read the rest of this entry »
Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah’s warning about rampant grand corruption should be reminder to Cabinet, Parliament and the ruling political parties of their failure to address this critical issue in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 13 December 2016
The Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah’s warning yesterday about rampant grand corruption in the country should be reminder to the Cabinet, Parliament and the ruling political parties of their failure to address this critical issue in Malaysia.
Sultan Nazrin’s concern over corruption and criminal breach of trust committed openly by highly-educated and high-ranking individuals should serve as a salutary end-of-the-year reminder to both the Federal and State Governments that Malaysia must break away from the trajectory of a failed and rogue state where corruption and abuses of power become the prevailing order of the day.
The Perak Sultan’s warning is most timely as a serious denial syndrome has afflicted the political leadership in the country, refusing to acknowledge that Malaysia has broken an infamous barrier when it is regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”.
This is not the first time that the Rulers have expressed concern about the importance of upholding public integrity in Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on all Malaysians to declare corruption as the Number One enemy of all Malaysians and for all occasions – including the 14th General Election
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Monday, 12 December 2016
A joke purportedly about Trump and corruption is 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.
Actually, the joke is not about Trump but about corruption in Malaysia!
I do not find it funny at all, but most mortifying, as it is at Malaysia’s expense.
But is it true, that corruption in Malaysia is so “world-class” as to put other countries to shame? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia: Do the Umno grassroots believe that corruption is non-existent?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Monday, 12 December 2016
By Zan Azlee | 12th December 2016
Asian Correspondent
UMNO (United Malays National Organisation), the political party that leads the government in Malaysia, has in the recent years been facing numerous accusations and allegations of corruption.
One of the highest profile scandals is the world-famous 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy that many have tied to Prime Minister Najib Razak and his family.
Several international authorities have already kicked off investigations into the scandal because it involves the misappropriation of funds in the banks of multiple countries. The biggest of these in the headlines right now is the one being conducted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). In Malaysia, however, the attorney-general has already absolved Najib of any criminal wrongdoing in the matter.
Umno, which Najib heads, still appears to have strong support from the Malaysian grassroots. Earlier this month, the party held their annual meeting of delegates across the country and since I’ve never once missed a meeting in over a decade, I did not want this year’s event to be any different. I also had a burning desire to find out if any of Umno’s grassroots members really believed that corruption wasn’t happening right below their very noses.
So I went. And there, I spoke to several assembly delegates and observers, all of whom had come to listen to their leaders discuss issues involving the party and the nation. It also needs to be said that the party is a Malay race-based party. So their main mission, really, is to protect the rights and interests of the Malays, who form the bulk of the Malaysian electorate. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Najib to convene a special meeting of Parliament before end of year to refute ignominy of Malaysia as “global kleptocracy” or cleanse Malaysia’s reputation to show the world Malaysians cherish reputation of Malaysia as an upright nation of integrity
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Sunday, 11 December 2016
Five recent events have given Malaysians a lot of food for thought and deliberation for the last three weeks of this year, viz:
1. The resounding impeachment of South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye by a 234-56 votes by South Korean Parliament over a corruption scandal which had brought millions onto the streets in protest against her.
2. The unceasing international shame and embarrassment to Malaysians with the unending reverberrations of the global multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal in various foreign countries, creating a spate of adverse publicity like the closure of banks and imprisonment of bankers, Malaysians becoming international corruption fugitives and the mystery of “MO1”, which is impossible to hide from Malaysians in the era of information society – although the 1MDB scandal is strictly kept under the lid by repressive and autocratic laws.
3. A purported letter dated Dec 9 in Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi’s name addressed to BN MPS and Senators urging them to pressure Najib to step down as Prime Minister, together with a replacement Cabinet with Zahid as Prime Minister and Khairy Jamaluddin as Deputy Prime Minister.
I believe this is a fake letter, but did it originate from within UMNO ranks or outside. In any event, Malaysia is heading for an unprecedented era of political dirty tricks, for didn’t the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself ushered in such disgusting politics of hate and “Big Lies” in his opening and closing speeches at the UMNO General Assembly, with three “Big Lies” Nazi-style:
*That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP.
*That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.
*The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power to DAP in the next general elections.
Can the Malaysian Parliament Move Against Prime Minister Najib Razak?
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Najib Razak, Parliament on Sunday, 11 December 2016
Koon Yew Yin
10th Dec 2016
Friends who watch the foreign TV news channel have asked me whether Malaysia will be able to follow the example of South Korea in the current leadership crisis found in that country.
In the case of South Korea, their lawmakers recently voted overwhelmingly in Parliament to impeach President Park Geun-hye over an influence-peddling and corruption scandal. If successful, it will set the stage for her to become the country’s first elected leader to be expelled from office in disgrace.
The impeachment motion was carried by a 234-56 margin in a secret ballot in parliament, meaning that at least more than 60 of Park’s own conservative Saenuri Party members backed removing her.
The votes of at least 200 members of the 300-seat chamber were needed for the motion to pass.
The Constitutional Court must now decide whether to uphold the motion, a process that could take up to 180 days. Read the rest of this entry »
If authorities are not out on a “witch-hunt”, Najib should be the first person who should be probed for “foreign funding” and not Ambiga or Bersih
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Saturday, 10 December 2016
If the authorities are not out on a “witch-hunt”, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should be the first person who should be probed by the police for “foreign funding” and not Ambiga Sreenivasan or Bersih, for three reasons:
Firstly, the quantum. The amount of “foreign funding” which went into Najib’s personal banking accounts boggles the imagination – at first it was the gargantuan figure of RM2.6 billion and later it was expanded to an even more astronomical figure of RM4.2 billion.
No sane person would dispute the claim by Ambiga, who headed Bersih from 2010 to 2013, that Bersih had at all times been transparent about its finding and accounts, and had never hidden the fact that it had received US$25,000 from Open Society Institute (OSI) and US$9,690 from National Democracy Institute (NDI) in 2011 which were used in election-related projects.
But what is US$34,690 compared to the over US$1 billion foreign funding which had been deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts – as the “foreign funding” that was deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts was 30 million times larger than the puny figures which Bersih had received from OSI and NDI in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia PM opens thorny debate in accusing Myanmar of genocide
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 9 December 2016
By Praveen Menon | KUALA LUMPUR
Reuters
Fri Dec 9, 2016
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stern rebuke to Myanmar for a military-led crackdown on Muslim Rohingyas was a rarity among Southeast Asian nations, who adhere to a policy of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs.
Critics saw the beleaguered Najib reaching for the moral high ground with his criticism over the weekend of Myanmar in order to pander to Malay Muslim voters after a series of protests calling for him to resign over a corruption scandal.
Najib is eyeing elections in the second half of 2017, nearly a year ahead of the 2018 deadline, a government source told Reuters.
At a rally on Sunday, Najib called for foreign intervention to stop the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims and lashed out at Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for her inaction. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians underestimate the damage caused by the 1MDB scandal
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 9 December 2016
Economist
Nov 26th 2016
But the opposition has to do more to win over rural Malays
FORTY thousand people wearing yellow shirts gathered in Malaysia’s capital on November 19th, to protest against corruption and impunity in government. The rally was orderly and restrained; the response of the authorities was not. On the eve of the protest, police arrested Maria Chin Abdullah, leader of a coalition of human-rights groups that organised the event. She was placed in solitary confinement, and can be held there for 28 days. Even by Malaysia’s dismal recent standards this marked a fresh low. Ordinary Malaysians should not stand by while their leaders undermine the rule of law so casually. Read the rest of this entry »
Jho Low family dealt setback in move to claim assets in 1MDB probe
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 9 December 2016
Reuters
8th December 2016
Relatives of a Malaysian financier at the center of the 1MDB fund scandal were dealt a setback in their efforts to claim assets seized by the U.S. government when a federal judge denied a motion that would have given them time to try their luck in overseas courts.
Earlier this week four relatives of Low Taek Jho filed a motion to delay the Dec. 12 hearing to Jan. 23 so they could go to courts in New Zealand and the Cayman Islands to try and get real estate and other assets transferred to a new trustee.
In a one-sentence ruling, U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied both the motion to postpone the hearing and a separate request to extend the deadline for filing a claim. No reason was given in the filing, dated Wednesday. Read the rest of this entry »
HAS CHINA OFFERED TO BAIL OUT MALAYSIA’S 1MDB? AT WHAT COST?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 8 December 2016
BY BHAVAN JAIPRAGAS
South China Morning Post
7 DEC 2016
China’s economic largesse to Malaysia was back in the spotlight on Wednesday following an apparent renewed effort by Beijing to bail out the Southeast Asian country’s beleaguered 1MDB state investment fund.
Political observers say such multibillion-dollar favours are likely to continue unabated as China seeks to bring a key trading partner closer into its strategic orbit and as Prime Minister Najib Razak turns away from the West, where he is accused of running a kleptocracy.
The Financial Times newspaper in a report on Wednesday said China “had been approached” to help 1MDB – embattled by a long-running money laundering scandal linked to Najib – pay off a US$6.5 billion (HK$50.4 billion) debt to an Abu Dhabi state investment arm. Read the rest of this entry »
Jho Low Family Digs in to Stop 1MDB Asset Seizure by U.S.
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 7 December 2016
by Edvard Pettersson
Bloomberg
December 6, 2016
Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho’s family is reaching far and wide to stop the U.S. from seizing $650 million in real estate and business investments the government claims were acquired with funds stolen from his home country.
The family of the businessman known as Jho Low claims the Swiss trustees holding their assets are afraid to fight back against the U.S. for fear of being prosecuted in the global game of investment hide and seek set off by the alleged disappearance of more than $3.5 billion of the $8 billion raised by 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
Four relatives of Low, including his father and brother, now say they will ask courts in the Cayman Islands and New Zealand to replace the Swiss trustees — so they can avoid having their possessions go to the U.S. by default. Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB: The Abu Dhabi Connection
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 7 December 2016
Katharina Bart
finews.asia
6 December 2016
Investigators are probing what they believe is a billion-dollar graft scandal at Malaysian state fund 1MDB. What is the role of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth executives?
As investigators in at least five countries probe an alleged billion-dollar corruption scheme, Abu Dhabi has been largely silent about its association with the Malaysian state fund.
Khadem al-Qubais–, who previously ran IPIC, one of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign wealth funds, until last year was responsible for billions in investments for the ruling family of Abu Dhabi – including stakes in Barclays, Daimler and Glencore.
He is also believed to have run a lucrative embezzlement and money-laundering racket which brought millions to his personal account, «The Wall Street Journal» reported. Former BSI private bankers have admitted running similarly lucrative side gigs in Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »
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