Archive for category Najib Razak
How could the PAC exonerate the Prime Minister of any criminal wrongdoing in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal when it had not even summoned Najib to appear as a witness?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Friday, 8 April 2016
UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, media and cybertroopers have gone to town after the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB in Parliament yesterday, declaring as one UMNO/BN media has blared from its front-page today: “No criminal wrongdoing on the part of PM”.
How could the PAC exonerate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of any criminal wrongdoing in the RM50 million 1MDB scandal, when it had not even summoned Najib to appear as a witness?
It is noteworthy that these propagandists had also blissfully ignored the suppression of the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB, which would normally be appended to the PAC report on 1MDB.
I have read through the 106-page PAC report on the 1MDB and I cannot find any exoneration of the Prime Minister in the 1MDB scandal.
May be Ministers and UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists who are going to town on this claim would like to point out and share the parts or paragraphs in the PAC report which had exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing! Read the rest of this entry »
Can Pandikar explain how he could ban the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB from being presented to Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document when the same report had been presented to PAC earlier?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Friday, 8 April 2016
The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is reported to have told Parliament that the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB could not be tabled in Parliament because the document had not been declassified.
He said: “I cannot allow a classified document to be tabled in the House. I will be violating the Official Secrets Act 1972 if I allow it.”
Can Pandikar explain how he could ban the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB from being presented to Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document when the same report had earlier been presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is a committee of Parliament, and should have been appended to the PAC Report on 1MDB which was tabled in Parliament yesterday?
Is Pandikar going to report the PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin as well as all the PAC members to the police for having committed breaches of the Official Secrets Act when they had access to the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB?
This is a most ludicrous situation, where a report had beenj presented to a parliamentary select or standing committee, but not to Parliament.
In fact, Pandikar is probably the only Speaker in the world who is barring the presentation of a report in Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document and official secret?
What type of a parliamentary reform is Malaysia pioneering in the world of Parliaments? Read the rest of this entry »
PAC report into RM50 billion 1MDB scandal is only tip of the iceberg
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Friday, 8 April 2016
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal is only the tip of the iceberg.
Anyone who have read the 106-page PAC report cannot help getting the feeling that the PAC report is wrestling with larger forces than those it has named and identified, which is why the PAC has attracted not only national, but international, interest and attention and why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion twin mega scandals have catapulted Malaysia among the top ten nations in the world infamous for global corruption.
Has the PAC report succeeded in laying to rest or rebutting in any manner international perceptions that Malaysia is now one of the world’s top nations in global corruption
The sad answer is in the negative. In fact, the PAC report will only confirm these international perceptions and doubts, which is why the 1MDB scandal is the subject of separate investigations by half a dozen countries, including the subject of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) under the US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative, and none of them will halt investigations because of the PAC Report. Read the rest of this entry »
Three basic flaws of the long-awaited Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1MDB
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, Parliament on Thursday, 7 April 2016
Two important events happened this morning which would have far-reaching consequences on the development of democratic governance in Malaysia.
The first was the unprecedented march by scores of Members of Parliament from Parliament House to Bukit Aman to protest the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s utter contempt of Parliament in the police arrest of PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli despite a long-standing parliamentary motion instructing the Inspector-General of Police to take all necessary measures to ensure that there is no obstruction to MPs travelling to and fro parliamentary meetings.
The second item was the tabling of the long-awaited Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1MDB.
I have not read the PAC report but clearly the PAC report is guilty of major failings even without having to refer to it.
There are at least three basic flaws in the PAC report on 1MDB. Read the rest of this entry »
Fed Warned Goldman on Malaysia Bond Deals
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 7 April 2016
by Justin Baer and Bradley Hope
Wall Street Journal
April 6, 2016
Regulator raised concerns about risk to firm’s reputation from work on 1MDB transactions
Regulators at the Federal Reserve have raised concerns with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that deals it helped put together for a controversial Malaysian government investment fund could have put the firm’s reputation at risk, according to people familiar with the matter.
Those deals are increasingly under a brighter spotlight, as additional details emerge about the alleged actions of the firm’s former Southeast Asia head who handled transactions for the fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd. or 1MDB.
People familiar with the matter said the partner, Tim Leissner, was suspended from the firm for writing a letter vouching for a financier with ties to that fund. Mr. Leissner was suspended and later quit early this year after a review of his email found he had allegedly written an unauthorized reference letter on behalf of Jho Low, a Malaysian investor who helped found 1MDB and was involved in some transactions done by the fund, people familiar with the matter said.
When it disclosed Mr. Leissner’s suspension, Goldman didn’t name Mr. Low. The fact that Mr. Leissner wrote a letter of reference to another financial institution for someone involved in 1MDB puts the firm deeper into the controversy surrounding the fund, lawyers say.
People familiar with the matter said Mr. Leissner’s letter had included details on Mr. Low’s finances, while overstating the extent to which Goldman had done due diligence on him. Read the rest of this entry »
Ariff: Malays must shed fairy tales, false notions
Posted by Kit in Lim Guan Eng, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 5 April 2016
Joe Fernandez | April 5, 2016
Free Malaysia Today
Mahathir, like the Malays, was wrong to assume that Najib Razak’s nobility can be equated to him doing what’s right and carrying out noble deeds
ariff,mahathir
KUALA LUMPUR: Raub MP Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, taking to his blog, said that he was present at Dataran Merdeka on April 1 when former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, at 91, addressed the crowd at an anti-GST rally. “The gathering this time was not as large as that during the Bersih rallies although the issue was also about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.”
“The weather was too hot and besides, the GST issue was too technical for many unlike what Bersih was all about.”
The people, added the MP, prefer the big picture. “The people want to see Najib out from Putrajaya and replaced by a government that’s aware of the environment.”
As Mahathir spoke, said Ariff, he couldn’t help but feel that Najib was also a result of the former Prime Minister’s fault. “It was a mistake on his part to believe that Najib comes from a noble family and will naturally do what’s right.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Tragic-Comedy Continues…
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Martin Jalleh, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 5 April 2016
By Martin Jalleh
ANZ quizzed over AmBank link to Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption scandal
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 5 April 2016
Leo Shanahan
THE AUSTRALIAN
APRIL 4, 2016
ANZ’s deputy chief executive and acting chief financial officer has been quizzed over the bank’s holdings in Malaysia’s AmBank amid the multi-billion dollar 1MDB corruption scandal engulfing that country’s government.
Appearing at a Senate committee looking into constructive default loans, Graham Hodges defended the role of ANZ in sitting on the board of Malaysian bank AmBank which held billions in the 1MDB funds at the centre of a global financial scandal.
With ANZ holding almost a 25 per cent shareholding in the Malaysian bank, ANZ has three permanent positions on AmBank’s board, which will soon include Mr Hodges himself and, formally, ANZ’s chief executive Shayne Elliott.
Under questioning from senators Mr Hodges described as “simplistic” allegations ANZ had governance questions to answer over AmBank and the scandal involving state investment fund 1MDB.
“Clearly the directors on that board are not at liberty to talk about what goes on … we do not control that bank. We are directors on that bank, it is a separately listed public company,” Mr Hodges told the committee in Sydney.
“As an ANZ executive and one which is a shareholder in that are we happy with that? Certainly not. But that’s different to implying that the culture or the integrity of one of the people who sat on the board is less than it should be because they’ve sat on the board.” Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s government silencing dissent
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Media, Najib Razak on Monday, 4 April 2016
Ross Tapsell, ANU
East Asia Forum
30 March 2016
The current scandal embroiling Prime Minister Najib Razak has led the Malaysian government to crack down on press freedoms. But a restricted mainstream Malaysian media has not stopped the publishing online of information on the ongoing corruption scandal surrounding the Prime Minister and 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). It remains to be seen whether Najib’s crackdown will secure his position or whether the media will help unseat him.
Earlier this year, Thomas Carothers from the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace described our current times as a ‘paradox’. Despite rapid and transformative advances in communications and information technology allowing for greater freedom of expression, the number of democracies today is basically no greater than it was at the start of the century. How has the ‘paradox’ unfolded in Malaysia?
Malaysia’s online media is not exempt from legal and state pressures, but former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad’s decision in 1996 not to regulate or censor the internet has allowed Malaysia’s online media to become a relatively more open and vibrant space.
Malaysia’s internet penetration rate is now at 68 per cent of the population and well over 80 per cent in urban areas. At the same time, newspaper circulation has decreased in government-owned newspapers such as Utusan Malaysia, The Star, The New Straits Times and Berita Harian. Print media circulation is dropping in most countries worldwide where internet penetration is rising. In Malaysia this has been fuelled by the reality that many Malaysians are tired of government-sponsored messages and are reaching for alternatives. Read the rest of this entry »
Razaleigh is wrong to say Save Malaysia Citizens’ Declaration is unconstitutional when it is in fact seeking a return to the fundamental principles of the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Constitution 1963 on democracy, rule of law, fundamental liberties and doctrine of separation of powers
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building, Razaleigh Hamzah on Monday, 4 April 2016
UMNO veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is wrong when he said that the Save Malaysia Citizens’ Declaration first signed by 42 political and civil society leaders in Kuala Lumpur on March 4, 2016, including former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir and former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was unconstitutional or contemplated unconstitutional action.
Nothing could be further from the truth as it is in fact seeking a return to the fundamental principles of the Merdeka Constitution 1957 and Malaysia Constitution 1963 on democracy, rule of law, fundamental liberties and doctrine of separation of powers. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s big central bank challenge
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
Nicholas Spiro
Nikkei Asian Review
March 29, 2016
Commentary
Emerging Asia’s central banks are sitting pretty, especially when compared with their Latin American counterparts.
Many of South America’s monetary guardians have been forced to raise interest rates aggressively over the past several months to combat a sharp rise in inflation, but emerging Asia’s central banks have been able to loosen monetary policy, with rate cuts in India, Indonesia, Taiwan and, most conspicuously, China.
Yet for Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, these are challenging times. Read the rest of this entry »
No room for opportunism in politics, says Kit Siang
Posted by Kit in DAP, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
by S Thayaparan
Malaysiakini
30 Mar 2016
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
INTERVIEW | This is the second part of an interview with DAP leader Lim Kit Siang on why he is willing to work with his nemesis, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in the ‘Save Malaysia’ campaign.
The first part appeared yesterday.
DAP has always struggled with the perception and Umno propaganda that it is a “Chinese” entity. Do you think that the DAP has made some missteps that gives credence to this perception?
DAP had never aspired to be a Chinese or non-Malay party. Right from the beginning during DAP’s formation in 1966, DAP had pledged itself to pursue a Malaysian Dream, not a Chinese Dream, an Indian Dream or a Malay Dream.
This is why DAP is the first political party in the country to be Pan-Malaysian, establishing branches in Sarawak and Sabah before any other political party in the country.
All through the past five decades, DAP had been accused of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam by Umno, because of Umno fear that the DAP will be able to make inroads into Umno spheres of influence with our Malaysian political appeal, transcending race, religion or region.
No political party seeking support from all Malaysians can be anti-Malay or anti-Islam, or for that matter, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Dayak, anti-Kadazandusun or anti-Buddhism, anti-Christianity, anti-Hindiuism or anti-Sikhism.
The battle against such lies and falsehoods had been a particularly uphill battle for the DAP because we had to face the full onslaught of the Umno juggernaut with its control and ownership of the mass media, particularly in the era before the advent of Internet, news portals and the social media.
However difficult the terrain, DAP had never wavered from our objectives and principles that the DAP had been formed not to fight for any one race but for all races and Malaysians in the country!
This is why right from the beginning, starting from the first general election in 1969 contested by the DAP, the party had always put up a multi-racial and multi-religious slate of candidates.
In fact, in the 1969 general election, two Malay state assemblymen were elected, one in Perak and the other in Negri Sembilan. In the past 11 general elections, DAP had elected Malay members of parliament and state assembly representatives in peninsular Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
First time Dr M accused of being my puppet, laments Kit Siang
Posted by Kit in DAP, Mahathir, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
by S Thayaparan
Malaysiakini
29 Mar 2016
“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
INTERVIEW | Very few Malaysians can say they have they lived up to the second part of the famous John F Kennedy quote “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” as DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang has.
After decades of wrestling with his political adversary, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for the soul of Malaysians after years of being on the receiving end of the all-encompassing power of the Umno state, the honourable gentleman from Gelang Patah, found himself part of a joint declaration along with Mahathir, calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
While the DAP has enjoyed a political resurgence with a newly awakened electorate, the long struggle against the Umno state has not diminished the enthusiasm and vigour of one the few people who can credibly claim title to elder statesmanship.
Here in two parts, Lim Kit Siang, explains what is at stake when it comes to the machinations of the Najib state, boldly answers questions from a sceptic (the writer) and reminds Malaysians that while we must never excuse the sins of the past, we can move beyond them. Read the rest of this entry »
World’s top banks in US government cross-hairs over dealings with Malaysia’s 1MDB
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
by Praveen Menon and Saeed Azhar
Australian Financial Review Weekend
Apr 3 2016
US Department of Justice officials have asked Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase & Co to provide details on their dealings with 1MDB, as global investigations into the troubled Malaysian state fund widen.
US Department of Justice officials also travelled to Kuala Lumpur to speak to senior bankers and other people with close links to the state fund, three people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. They said JPMorgan and Deutsche were not the target of investigations at this stage, but had only been asked to provide details.
Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan declined to comment. The Department of Justice also declined to comment. Read the rest of this entry »
After Teoh Beng Hock outrage and tragedy, is MACC determined it will never again become a political pawn to persecute the Opposition?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Lim Guan Eng, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must convince Malaysians that after the Teoh Beng Hock outrage and tragedy, for which there is still no closure for the Teoh Beng Hock family and justice-loving Malaysians for Beng Hock’s death at MACC premises, it is determined never again to become a political pawn to persecute the Opposition.
UMNO/BN leaders have accused the DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, of corruption in the RM2.8 million purchase of his bungalow resulting from the sale of Taman Manggis land to KLDIC.
Two wrongs do not make a right, and if Guan Eng is guilty of corruption in his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase, the full rigours of the law should be applied. However, the maxim that a person is innocent until proven guilty must be scrupulously observed.
In this case, the allegation of Guan Eng’s corruption over the sale of Taman Manggis land to KLDIC has proved to be baseless, as the Taman Manggis land had been sold by the Penang State Government via open tender to the highest bidder.
Even the allegation that the DAP-led Penang State Government had “robbed” the people of low-cost housing in Taman Manggis had easily been debunked with the declassification of the State Exco minutes of the Gerakan State Government in 2005 and 2007 which showed that the government back then had no plans whatsoever to build homes for the poor. In contrast, the DAP-led Penang State Government had commenced a separate low, low-medium cost and affordable housing less than two kilometres away in Jalan S.P. Chelliah which is nearly 10 times the size of the land in Taman Manggis.
While two wrongs do not make a right, this cannot be an argument to justify MACC abuses of power. Read the rest of this entry »
Murky Malaysian money trail that funded The Wolf of Wall Street – report
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
Edward Helmore
Guardian
2 April 2016
The FBI reportedly believes that $100m of the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring film’s budget came from a Malaysian state fund for local economic development
Sources within the FBI have confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that more than $100m of the production budget for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street came from a Malaysian state fund connected to a scandal that has damaged a senior Goldman Sachs banker and led investigators to examine the lifestyle of a notorious New York playboy.
According to the Journal, FBI investigators believe much of the cash used to make the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring film was never intended for the movie business. Instead, it originated with 1MDB, a Malaysian state fund meant to boost local economic development.
1MDB, the Journal reported, passed the money to Red Granite Pictures, a Hollywood production company controlled by Riza Aziz, stepson of the prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, who set up 1MDB seven years ago.
1MDB also appears to be behind the lavish lifestyle of Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, a notorious New York party boy and friend of Aziz. Read the rest of this entry »
The Secret Money Behind ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
By Bradley Hope, John R. Emshwiller And Ben Fritz
Wall Street Journal
April 1, 2016
Investigators believe much of the cash used to make the Leonardo DiCaprio film about a stock swindler originated with embattled Malaysian state development fund 1MDB
LOS ANGELES—Despite the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese, the 2013 hit movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” took more than six years to get made because studios weren’t willing to invest in a risky R-rated project.
Help arrived from a virtually unknown production company called Red Granite Pictures. Though it had made just one movie, Red Granite came up with the more than $100 million needed to film the sex- and drug-fueled story of a penny-stock swindler.
Global investigators now believe much of the money to make the movie about a stock scam was diverted from a state fund 9,000 miles away in Malaysia, a fund that had been established to spur local economic development.
The investigators, said people familiar with their work, believe this financing was part of a wider scandal at the Malaysian fund, which has been detailed in Wall Street Journal articles over the past year.
The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, was set up seven years ago by the prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. His stepson, Riza Aziz, is the chairman of Red Granite Pictures.
The 1MDB fund is now the focus of numerous investigations at home and abroad, which grew out of $11 billion of debt it ran up and questions raised in Malaysia about how some of its money was used. Read the rest of this entry »
The Wolf of Wall Street dragged into Malaysia corruption scandal
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
Rob Crilly, New York
The Telegraph
2 APRIL 2016
Even with Leonardo DiCaprio on board, The Wolf of Wall Street – an 18-rated film about financial corruption – struggled to find the backing it needed.
It took a little known production company, Red Granite, to take the gamble on such explicit material and come up with the $100m or so needed to bring the film to cinema screens.
Now that company has been swept up in a corruption investigation amid allegations that some of the money used to make the film was laundered from a scandal-hit Malaysian firm founded by the country’s prime minister. Read the rest of this entry »
Donation or 1MDB funds? Luxembourg probe may uncover missing link
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Sunday, 3 April 2016
Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
2 Apr 2016
Malaysians may be wondering why a tiny European country is joining the growing global investigation into 1MDB, but the outcome of the Luxembourg probe could have great bearing on Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.
To begin with, the Luxembourg investigation does not indicate that it has anything to do with Najib.
But the Luxembourg probe is significant as it may solve an important missing link – the connection between 1MDB and a number of entities which have generously pumped billions of ringgit, claimed to be donations, into Najib’s personal bank accounts. Read the rest of this entry »
Dust over corruption allegations against Guan Eng’s RM2.8 million bungalow clearing up while monstrous sandstorm over Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals building up to explosion point
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Lim Guan Eng, Najib Razak on Saturday, 2 April 2016
After a two-week relentless barrage by UMNO/BN strategists and cybertroopers, fully supported by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police, the dust over the corruption allegations against DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng based on half-truths, lies and downright falsehoods, are clearing up while on the other hand, a monstrous sandstorm over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals is building up to explosion point.
UMNO/BN allegations that Guan Eng had purchased the bungalow as a result of corruption arising from the sale of Taman Manggis land to KLDIC has been proved to be baseless, as the Taman Manggis land had been sold by the Penang State Government via open tender to the highest bigger.
The other UMNO/BN allegation that the Penang State Government had “robbed” the people of low-cost housing has also been proved to be baseless, with the declassification of the State Exco minutes of the Gerakan State Government in 2005 and 2007 which showed that the Gerakan State Government at the time had rejected the use of the Taman Manggis land for People’s Housing Project (PPR) and proposed instead a mixed project of shophouses and government quarters. In 2012, the DAP-led Penang government had commenced a separate low, low-medium cost and affordable housing less than 2 kilometers away in Jalan S P Chelliah which is nearly 10 times the size of the land in Taman Manggis.
The MACC and Police have swung into immediate action, with some 15 MACC officers descending on the Penang Chief Minister’s office in Komtar, conducting a search for some four hours and carting away boxes of documents.
If the MACC had shown similar alacrity in investigating Najib’s twin mega scandals, MACC should be sending hundreds of officers to swarm and besiege the Prime Minister’s Offices in Putrajaya, and subject individuals involved in the twin mega scandals to intensive interrogation sessions, at least round-the-clock 12-hour interrogation sessions.
Would MACC dare to interrogate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, on a round-the-clock 12-hour sessions? Read the rest of this entry »
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