End the Corporate Shell Games

Leslie Caldwell

Bloomberg

NOV 30, 2016

Leaders from around the globe will converge Thursday in Panama City to discuss the next steps in the international fight against corruption.

That meeting will highlight for the world — and for our newly elected president and Congress — that the U.S. is in danger of falling behind our global partners in preventing the flow of illicit money through our financial markets. We have failed to enact legislation that would require the disclosure of the people behind legal entities — legislation that would assist law enforcement in stopping those who corrupt the U.S. and international financial systems.

It is no secret that the U.S. financial system is an attractive playground: We have the deepest, most liquid and most stable markets, and criminals seek to use the tools of our financial and banking systems to serve their illicit purposes. For an illegal enterprise to succeed, criminals must be able to hide, move and get access to their proceeds without detection. And when they are successful, their actions serve as a dual threat: Their criminal conduct itself can threaten the safety and security of all citizens, and their use of the financial and banking systems to hide their gains — or to fund additional criminal conduct — undermines the integrity of those systems.

One prominent example is a case the Justice Department filed seeking to forfeit and recover more than $1.2 billion in assets that were involved in, or traceable to, an international conspiracy to launder funds stolen from the people of Malaysia. The government of Malaysia wholly owns 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a strategic investment and development fund. As alleged in the complaint, over a six-year period, 1MDB associates took more than $3.5 billion from the development fund to purchase luxury condominiums, a $35 million jet, expensive works of art and a motion picture company that used the money to finance, among other things, the production of “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

According to our allegations, the 1MDB associates were able to successfully divert funds meant to assist the Malaysian people by providing false information to banks about the ownership of the accounts opened to facilitate their criminal activity. The 1MDB case is just the latest illustration of a global problem arising from the ability of individuals and criminal organizations to use shell companies to conceal the proceeds of crime. Gaps in legal regimes around the globe allow anyone with a basic level of sophistication to create accounts in the names of shell entities and avoid disclosing their beneficial owners of those accounts. Through cooperation and assistance from our international partners, investigators were able to lift that shroud and identify the true identity of the beneficial owners in the 1MDB case. However, that can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process based on extensive document searches and witness interviews. In many cases, it can take years to break through these barriers, if we succeed at all.

As it stands, owners of shell companies — including criminal actors — can effectively shield their true identity: The U.S. does not require corporate entities to disclose their true owners to the government. Corrupt foreign officials and other criminals are well aware of this loophole and exploit it, for example, to purchase expensive assets, such as real estate, here in the U.S. As a result, we see the movement of billions of dollars — some of which represents proceeds of corruption or other crimes — through shell companies around the world. Whether an individual’s decision to use a shell company is motivated by corruption, tax evasion or a legitimate investment strategy, the end result is a lack of financial transparency. This lack of transparency is precisely what makes the U.S. attractive to criminals, including corrupt foreign officials, who seek to use the financial systems to hide their assets.

Fortunately, there is a straightforward remedy.

In May, President Barack Obama’s administration took several important steps to combat illicit finance and corruption. First, the U.S. issued a rule which, among other obligations, requires U.S. financial institutions to verify the identity of the person who owns, controls and profits from a company. Second, the administration sent proposed legislation to Congress that would require companies formed within the U.S. to know and report beneficial ownership information at the time of the company’s creation to the Treasury Department and face penalties if they fail to comply. By requiring the disclosure of beneficial ownership information at two important points– at account opening and company formation — the U.S. will significantly reduce the ability of criminals to hide their identity, launder funds and use U.S. companies to conceal illegal overseas activities. Finally, the administration also sent to Congress proposed legislation designed to enhance our ability to combat transnational corruption. This legislation would assist investigators and prosecutors in gathering evidence essential to unraveling the string of transactions employed by those who seek to hide illicit funds.

The European Union has passed beneficial ownership legislation, which will require member states to implement it by 2017. Once this happens, the U.S. will have fallen behind our international partners in our ability to effectively investigate and put an end to these schemes.

Members of Congress recognize the importance of this issue, and we have had substantive discussions with them about how to move forward with legislation that strikes an appropriate balance between the need to collect beneficial ownership information and the privacy concerns that the business community has raised. If legislation is not enacted before Congress adjourns, this must be a high priority for the next Congress.

The U.S. must close the loopholes exploited by corrupt foreign officials and others seeking to hide the profits of their illegal activity, and assist law enforcement in preventing and investigating financial crimes. This action is necessary to keep the U.S. at the forefront of the international efforts to combat transnational financial crimes and to prevent it from being a haven for criminals and their looted assets.

This is not a matter only of theoretical importance: A flood of looted assets distorts markets, exacerbates income inequality, and enhances the sense of impunity already held by criminals and kleptocrats.

The U.S. should be a leader in finding solutions, rather than part of the problem.

Leslie Caldwell is assistant attorney-general for the Justice Department’s criminal division.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 December 2016, 10:12 am and is filed under
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Singapore slaps penalties on StanChart, Coutts in 1MDB-related probe

by Anshuman Daga and Marius Zaharia | SINGAPORE

Reuters

Dec 2, 2016

Singapore’s central bank imposed penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund and said it was nearing the end of its probes.

The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by the central bank in its crackdown on money laundering, having ordered the closure earlier this year of the local units of Swiss banks BSI and Falcon.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also in the process of issuing a prohibition order against Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman.

“These actions send a strong signal that we will not tolerate the abuse of Singapore’s financial system for illicit purposes,” said Ravi Menon, the managing director of MAS.

“The supervisory investigations into the intricate web of international fund flows have been a learning experience for financial institutions as well as for MAS,” he said.

The inspection at Standard Chartered “revealed significant lapses in the bank’s customer due diligence measures and controls for ongoing monitoring,” MAS said. bit.ly/2h0ZMJQ

While the 28 breaches were “serious”, the central bank did not find “wilful misconduct.”

Standard Chartered said in a statement it is taking action to strengthen controls and surveillance systems.

“We regret that 1MDB-related transactions passed through Standard Chartered Bank Singapore accounts from 2010 to early 2013,” it said.

“We reported the suspicious transactions, both before and at the time we exited the accounts in early 2013, and have been fully cooperating with the authorities investigating this matter.”

Malaysia’s 1MDB, once a pet project of Prime Minister Najib Razak who chaired its advisory board, is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

At Coutts, the investigation revealed 24 breaches of AML requirements in relation to customer due diligence measures for politically exposed persons.

This was the result of actions or omissions of officers who have since left the bank, including Yak Yew Chee and Yvonne Seah, who had left Coutts to join BSI Bank in late 2009.

Coutts International was sold by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) to Union Bancaire Privee in March 2015 and is in the process of winding down its Singapore operations.

“We regret any failings in our AML processes and the length of time it has taken to detect and resolve this issue,” RBS said in a statement.

UBP said the acquisition of Coutts International was an assets-only transaction and therefore UBP does not inherit Coutts’ “legal issues or liabilities.”

SANCTIONS AGAINST FORMER GOLDMAN SACHS BANKER

Banker Leissner was responsible for managing the relationship with 1MDB when Goldman Sachs was engaged by the fund to arrange three bond issues from 2012 to 2013. MAS’s investigation found he had made false statements on behalf of his bank without its knowledge or consent.

“Today’s announcement refers to a matter we discovered in January of this year and identified as a clear violation of the firm’s standards,” Goldman Sachs said in a statement.

“At that time we promptly took steps to separate Leissner from the firm and reported the matter to regulatory authorities in several jurisdictions, including Singapore. We continue to cooperate with the MAS.”

The proposed order will prohibit Leissner for a period of 10 years from performing any regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act or taking part, directly or indirectly, in the management of any capital market services firm in Singapore.

Leissner’s lawyer Marc Harris from Scheper Kim & Harris LLP said in a statement that Leissner will accede to a request by MAS to response to the allegations.

The central bank said it was nearing the end of its 1MDB-related investigations and will provide a final update early next year.

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Singapore to Ban Former Goldman Banker in Connection With 1MDB Scandal

By TOM WRIGHT and  JAKE MAXWELL WATTS

Wall Street Journal

Dec. 2, 2016

Executive allegedly wrote unauthorized reference letter for Malaysian U.S. authorities say is at the center of fraud at state investment fund

Singapore’s probe into a multibillion-dollar financial scandal touched Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for the first time on Friday as its central bank said it was planning to ban the Wall Street firm’s former top executive in Southeast Asia from operating in the city-state’s financial system for 10 years.

The executive, Tim Leissner, was Goldman’s point man on deals involving Malaysian state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank, announced the proposed ban on Mr. Leissner after it found he had written a recommendation letter for a Malaysian financier, Jho Low, in June 2015. In it, Mr. Leissner claimed that Goldman had performed due diligence on Mr. Low.

“These statements were untrue and were made by Mr. Leissner without Goldman Sachs’ knowledge or consent,” the MAS statement said.

Goldman Sachs said in a statement Friday that it had discovered the matter in January 2016 and reported it to Singapore authorities. Mr. Leissner left Goldman in February after Goldman put him on leave.

Attempts to reach Mr. Leissner, who is living in Los Angeles, weren’t immediately successful. He has previously denied wrongdoing. A lawyer for Mr. Leissner on Friday said his client had not been aware of any planned regulatory action by Singapore against him. Mr. Leissner has now been invited by Singapore authorities to respond and looks forward to doing so, the lawyer added.

U.S. investigators claim Mr. Low was a mastermind of a massive alleged fraud at 1MDB that spread world-wide. Some investigators have described it as one of the world’s largest-ever financial swindles.

Attempts to reach Mr. Low, who has denied wrongdoing, were unsuccessful. He’s also being sought by authorities in Singapore, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Goldman made around $600 million in fees in 2012 and 2013 selling a total of $6.5 billion in bonds for 1MDB, its largest payday anywhere in the world in those years. Much of the proceeds of the bonds were siphoned off immediately into offshore accounts and used to buy luxury real estate in the U.S., finance Hollywood movies and acquire other assets, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit this summer.

The 1MDB fund and Goldman have denied wrongdoing. Malaysian authorities have also cleared 1MDB of wrongdoing.

The letter cited by the Singaporean announcement was written by Mr. Leissner to a Luxembourg bank to help Mr. Low open an account there, although he never did so, according to people familiar with the matter. The young Malaysian and his associates opened hundreds of accounts around the world, especially in Switzerland and Singapore, and used them to funnel money taken from 1MDB, according to investigations that are ongoing in the U.S., Singapore, Switzerland and elsewhere.

The use of Singapore’s banking system to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in allegedly stolen funds has embarrassed authorities here, who in the past few months have taken action to penalize banks involved in allegedly moving 1MDB money, including shuttering branches of two Swiss private banks.

Mr. Leissner, a German national who had been doing deals for Goldman in Malaysia since 2002, got to know Mr. Low a few years later, say people familiar with the matter. Mr. Low had been bringing Middle Eastern investment to Malaysia, and, in 2009, he persuaded the sultan of a Malaysian state to set up an oil-wealth fund, which Goldman was appointed to advise, according to those people. The state oil-wealth fund was soon taken over by Malaysia’s federal government and named 1MDB. Mr. Low took no formal role at 1MDB but ran the fund behind the scenes, say people who worked there.

The fund was supposed to boost growth in Malaysia and its first deal was to invest $1 billion in an offshore oil venture. But $700 million was immediately stolen and sent into an account controlled by Mr. Low at Swiss bank Coutts & Co. in Zurich, the U.S. Justice Department suit alleges. From there the money flowed to numerous other accounts in Singapore and elsewhere, the first drips of at least $3.5 billion that the Justice Department claims was siphoned from 1MDB between 2009 and 2013.

Some of the 1MDB money ended up in accounts owned by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and was used for political spending, according to the U.S. Justice Department and Malaysian investigation documents. The prime minister has denied wrongdoing. Malaysia’s Attorney General has said the money Mr. Najib received was a gift from Saudi Arabia and most was returned. Mr. Najib has been cleared of any wrongdoing by Malaysian authorities.

On Friday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore also levied financial penalties of 5.2 million Singapore dollars ($3.65 million) on Standard Chartered Ltd. and 2.4 million Singapore dollars on Coutts for failures in their anti-money-laundering controls. The authority didn’t mention 1MDB in relation to these fines, but both banks played a role in moving money taken from the Malaysian fund, according to the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit.

A request to Coutts for comment was referred to a spokesman at the Royal Bank of Scotland PLC., which owned Coutts during the period of alleged control failures and is winding down the remaining Coutts Singapore operations it still controls.

The RBS spokesman said the company regrets any failings and has sought to strengthen its policies. Standard Chartered said in a statement Friday it regrets that 1MDB-related transactions passed through the bank. It said it had reported the suspicious transactions, cooperated with authorities and had taken action to strengthen its controls.

In 2012, hundreds of millions of dollars in money originating with 1MDB was transferred to an account with Standard Chartered in Singapore controlled by an associate of Mr. Low, according to the U.S. Justice Department suit.

The money that ended up in Standard Chartered in Singapore came from billions in bonds that Goldman had sold for 1MDB in 2012 to finance the acquisition of power plants, the U.S. Justice Department said. The bonds were backed by an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund on the suggestion of Mr. Low, said a person involved with the deal.

Earlier this year, Singapore also fined UBS Group AG’s local unit and the city-state’s largest local bank DBS Bank Ltd. for money-laundering control failures related to 1MDB. UBS and DBS said they had voluntarily reported suspicious transactions and are committed to improving their own approaches to stopping money laundering.

—Saurabh Chaturvedi and P.R. Venkat contributed to this article.

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UMNO General Assembly: Worst Display of Political Extremism and Bodek-ism

Koon Yew Yin

December 3, 2016

Every year when the UMNO General Assembly takes place, we can be sure that there will be speakers looking for cheap publicity who will use the occasion to make stupid and ridiculous charges against the so-called enemies of the race – meaning enemies of UMNO.

We have seen again and again this same spectacle of the leading political party in the country show to Malaysians and the rest of the world how deep the cancer of racial and religious hatred is within the party.

This year’s GA was no exception or as a Malay friend said to me in describing the proceedings:

“SOS” – “Same Old S__t”.

But in fact there were two important differences from earlier years.

The first is that the prize for extremism and making baseless political allegations and instigating racial and religious fear must go to UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak himself. It did not from any ordinary ambitious wannabe jaguh kampung.

There is a saying both in China and medieval Europe that “the fish rots from the head down”. How true this is from this year’s UMNO GA.

Personally I never thought I would live to see the day when a top political leader in Barisan would stoop so low to warn his members that “If UMNO falls, we have all sinned”, as one newspaper headlined his speech to the assembly.

I can understand it if he criticises the opposition and their policies. I can also understand it if he makes a speech that argues that the current socio-economic crisis facing the country or ringgit decline is not entirely due to the Barisan’s doing but also because of global developments beyond the control of the ruling party.

But for him to claim that it is a “sin” for UMNO to lose power shows how desperate he is to stay in power. His use of this religious card and also the emerging card of UMNO power sharing with PAS is clearly to avoid having to pay for his own “sins” of responsibility and involvement in the 1MDB scandal, the massive “donation” paid into his personal bank account, and the many other abuses of power he has been accused of.

It is very clear now that the country’s PM, besides his power abuses and misgovernance, is absolutely power-crazy. He is a megalomaniac who will stop at nothing to keep himself in power.

I am glad that a response to this dangerous rhetoric has come from former deputy minister, former Umno MP and now Pakatan Harapan’s chief secretary Saifuddin Abdullah who blasted Najib for his speech.

“No prime minister should commit such an error, which may lead to racial disaster,” he was texted.

The second difference is the extremism in boot-licking and sucking-up to the party President – or to use a more graphic Malay word, bodek-ism, demonstrated by the other top leaders such as Wanita President, Sharizat Jalil and Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin.

While one can understand that it is not possible for them to openly criticise their President, at the very least, they could have used the occasion to raise the serious issues of bread and butter and livelihood and employment which the Malay community is experiencing like other Malaysians.

The top prize for bodek-ism must go to the Deputy Prime Minister who called on Umno members to pledge unwavering loyalty to Najib as “Allah” willed him to be their leader.

According to reports, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was reported to have said: “We have to remember we are in a time where Allah has put Datuk Seri Najib as our president. It is fate that Allah wanted it that way.

“I urge all members not just pledge your loyalty through your mouths. The pledge should also be in actions as that is what is wanted by our religion,” he apparently told Umno wing delegates at the opening of their general assemblies.

Zahid also pledged his own loyalty towards Najib as the party president and said: “To make Umno strong forever, loyalty should be practiced by all members. No matter what criticism or rumours are thrown towards the party president, it cannot falter, my loyalty to him,”

Presumably, Zahid has made this speech to protect his own position as the likely successor to Najib. When that happens, he will want others to use that same logic, “Allah has put …….. as our president.”

I am sure that all thinking UMNO members must also realize that the present crisis in UMNO and the condemnation the party’s leaders are facing from the rest of the world are also God-sent!

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 December 2016, 9:51 am and is filed under
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Why is 1MDB scandal which made Malaysia a “global kleptocracy” allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five-day UMNO Assemblies, causing Najib and  UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority as Malaysian Prime Minister and leading political party respectively?

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s UMNO Presidential speech has been shocker. But the five-day UMNO General Assemblies are a greater shocker.

I fully agree with the head of the Pakatan Harapan Secretariat and former Deputy Higher Education Minister, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah that Najib has made a grave error  in using racial connotations at the UMNO General Assembly as it has disastrous racial implications.

Saifuddin is spot-on when he said firstly,  that Najib had made baseless accusations against DAP as though DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam party; and secondly, Najib has compounded his error as  DAP does not dictate matters in Pakatan Harapan, which is led collectively by the three component parties, DAP, PKR and Amanah.

The Pahang State Assembly Opposition Leader and DAP Pahang Assemblyman for Mentakab, Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji, has responded to Najib’s speech at the UMNO General Assembly declaring that he would have left DAP long ago if DAP had been anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

In actual fact, Tengku Zulpuri said Najib’s accusation was completely baseless as the DAP-led Penang State Government had brought many benefits to the Malays and promoted Islam in Penang State.

Tengku Zulpuri’s view has been endorsed by the former Penang Deputy Chief Minister and former Agriculture Deputy Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Sharif Omar who said that the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng “lebih banyak menjaga kebajikan rakyat Pulau Pinang, termasuk kaum Melayu di negeri itu berbanding pemimpin sebelum ini” and “tidak ada satu pun tindakan DAP yang menunjukkan parti tersebut anti-Melayu sepanjang Pakatan Harapan memimpin Pulau Pinang sejak tahun 2008”.

Sharif said:

“Lim Guan Eng ini buat lebih baik dari dulu. Ini berasaskan fakta. Jadi isu rasis yang UMNO dok canang tu tak laku dah. Orang Pulau Pinang tak boleh terima dah isu tu.

“Yang depa tahu, hidup UMNO, hidup Melayu. Padahal dia sapu habis semua dah.”

But an even greater shocker than Najib’s presidential speech is that throughout the five-day UMNO Assemblies of UMNO and its wings, UMNO Youth, Wanita and  Puteri, the pernicious international 1MDB money-laundering scandal which made Malaysia a “global kleptocracy” was allowed to be the “elephant in the room”, causing Najib and  UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority as Malaysian Prime Minister and leading political party respectively.

Yesterday, Singapore’s central bank imposed penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money-laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund and said it was nearing the end of its probes.

The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its crackdown on 1MDB money-laundering, having ordered the closure earlier this year of the local units of Swiss banks BSI and Falcon.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also in the process of issuing a prohibition order against Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman.

1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

On the eve of the 17th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Panama City on Dec. 1 – 4, 2016, Leslie Caldwell, the assistant attorney-general for the US Justice Department’s criminal division, wrote an opinion piece in Bloomberg entitled “End the Corporate Shell Games” where he used Malaysia’s multi-billion dollar international 1MDB money-laundering scandal as a “prominent example” of the need for legislation to stop those who “corrupt the U.S. and financial systems” and to stop the flow of illegal money through the financial markets.

Leslie wrote:

“It is no secret that the U.S. financial system is an attractive playground: We have the deepest, most liquid and most stable markets, and criminals seek to use the tools of our financial and banking systems to serve their illicit purposes. For an illegal enterprise to succeed, criminals must be able to hide, move and get access to their proceeds without detection. And when they are successful, their actions serve as a dual threat: Their criminal conduct itself can threaten the safety and security of all citizens, and their use of the financial and banking systems to hide their gains — or to fund additional criminal conduct — undermines the integrity of those systems.

“One prominent example is a case the Justice Department filed seeking to forfeit and recover more than $1.2 billion in assets that were involved in, or traceable to, an international conspiracy to launder funds stolen from the people of Malaysia. The government of Malaysia wholly owns 1Malaysia Development Bhd., a strategic investment and development fund. As alleged in the complaint, over a six-year period, 1MDB associates took more than $3.5 billion from the development fund to purchase luxury condominiums, a $35 million jet, expensive works of art and a motion picture company that used the money to finance, among other things, the production of ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’

“According to our allegations, the 1MDB associates were able to successfully divert funds meant to assist the Malaysian people by providing false information to banks about the ownership of the accounts opened to facilitate their criminal activity. The 1MDB case is just the latest illustration of a global problem arising from the ability of individuals and criminal organizations to use shell companies to conceal the proceeds of crime. Gaps in legal regimes around the globe allow anyone with a basic level of sophistication to create accounts in the names of shell entities and avoid disclosing their beneficial owners of those accounts. Through cooperation and assistance from our international partners, investigators were able to lift that shroud and identify the true identity of the beneficial owners in the 1MDB case. However, that can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process based on extensive document searches and witness interviews. In many cases, it can take years to break through these barriers, if we succeed at all.”

From  the Wall Street Journal’s report yesterday, two of the five  “relevant individuals” named in the US DOJ lawsuits as key players  in the 1MDB global money-laundering scandal, Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi, managing director  of Abu Dhabi government  wholly-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) 2007-2015  and Chairman of IPIC subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar)  2012-2013 and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny (CEO of Aabar 2010-2015) are now sitting in Abu Dhabi jail under investigation for money-laundering, corruption and other possible offences.

The other three of the five “relevant individuals” named in the US lawsuits, Jho Low, Raja Shariz Abdul Aziz (Najib’s stepson) and Eric Tan Kim Loong are more fortunate than Al-Qubaisi and Al-Husseiny, as the Malaysian authorities do not seem to be looking for them and allow them to be international fugitives.

The US DOJ lawsuits listed four persons indirectly, referred to as “Malaysian Official 1”, “1MDB Officer 1”, “1MDB Officer 2” and “1MDB Officer 3” – and although they are not named, their identities should be very easy to discover.

Are the UMNO leaders, delegates and members not interested to find out who is MO1, 1MDB Officer 1, 2 and 3?

Who are these four individuals referred to indirectly, and what actions have the Malaysian authorities taken against the three Malaysians referred to directly by name and   four Malaysian individuals referred to  indirectly in the US DOJ lawsuits, including MO1?

Parliament in its 25-day budget meeting had failed its national duty to rebut and refute Malaysia’s ignominy and infamy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy” as a result of the International multi-billion dollar 1MDB  money-laundering scandal or to cleanse and purge Malaysia of such infamy and ignominy.

Now, the five-day UMNO General Assemblies have also failed the country in neither rebutting and refuting the preposterous epithet of a “global kleptocracy” nor purging and cleansing Malaysia of such international infamy and ignominy.

Instead of boldly confronting the 1MDB  and “global kleptocracy” issues, the five-day UMNO Assemblies have put up a infamous charade to vaporise the 1MDB and “global kleptocracy” issues  into a humongous  “elephant in the room”.

There was a shifty, half-hearted and unconvincing attempt to reply  to the US DOJ lawsuits for forfeiture of over US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from the international  US$3 billion kleptocratic money-laundering from 1MDB funds by an  “anonymous” booklet on 1MDB – which clearly had the sanction of the UMNO leadership for it to be distributed surreptitiously to UMNO delegates,  as if work of a “thief in the night”.

This is a most shameful episode of the UMNO government and party in the nation’s history.

This is not the act of patriots and nationalists who are prepared to defend the honour, reputation and integrity of Malaysia to the bitter end.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 3 December 2016, 2:32 pm and is filed under
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Malaysians worry Trump will drop a corruption investigation into his “favorite prime minister”

Joon Ian Wong

Quartz

December 01, 2016

Malaysia’s prime minister Najib Razak may have hundreds of thousands of his countrymen calling for his resignation — embroiled as he is in a multi-billion-dollar corruption case — but he has one thing to be grateful for: His onetime golfing partner is the next president of the United States, whose justice department happens to be pursuing that very same corruption case.

Najib has been talking up his close ties to Trump to the media. He recounted a victorious golf game played years ago at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey to the Star, a Malaysian daily. Najib had been in town for the United Nations General Assembly, and wanted to enjoy some R&R with his Malaysian delegation. Trump, hearing about the group, appeared and joined the game. So Najib and Trump partnered up.

At the game’s conclusion, Trump posed for a photo with Najib and the late Malaysian ambassador to the US, Jamaluddin Jarjis, and autographed it. It was inscribed: “To my favorite Prime Minister. Great win!” according to Najib. The Malaysian PM said he keeps the photo on his desk. “I did it before [Trump] became as famous as he is today,” Najib told the Star.

Najib is now reaping the rewards of that intuition. He says he had a “very warm and productive” phone call with his former golfing partner, and that ties between the two countries would be further strengthened.

Najib will hope that a friendly figure in the White House will help his chances in the biggest kleptocracy case brought by the US justice department to date. It’s seeking $1 billion in assets that it says are tied to “public corruption and a global money laundering conspiracy.”

The assets include royalties from The Wolf of Wall Street (a 2013 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio) and a clutch of luxury properties in New York, Beverly Hills, and elsewhere. Investigators allege the latter were paid for by money looted from a Malaysian development fund called 1MDB, whose advisory board chairman was Najib.

The case was launched by the justice department under attorney general Loretta Lynch, who will be replaced by senator Jeff Sessions in the Trump administration. The department has filed a civil complaint naming Najib’s stepson, Riza Aziz, as one of the defendants. Not named in the case is Najib himself, although a figure referred to as “Malaysian Official 1” is mentioned dozens of times, and was reportedly confirmed as Najib.

The US justice department is seen by Malaysians as being one of the few agencies powerful enough to bring the looters of 1MDB to justice. In January Malaysia’s own attorney general—appointed by Najib—cleared Najib of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, a member of parliament who leaked details of a secret government report on 1MDB has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.

“We hope [the incoming administration] would not turn their backs on what has already been put forward by the [justice department],” says Shahrul Aman, deputy chairman of Berish 2.0, an electoral reform group that has organized massive street rallies calling for change in Malaysia. Bersih chairwoman Maria Chin Abdullah was released this week from 10 days in solitary confinement after the latest rally, held on Nov. 19 in Kuala Lumpur.

Pro-democracy group Bersih stage 1MDB protest, calling for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to resign, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

While Najib has also hit the links with Barack Obama, that didn’t stop the outgoing president from taking a perceived potshot at the Malaysian leader in a recent speech. He mentioned corrupt leaders who “siphoned off development funds into Swiss bank accounts.” The 1MDB money trail leads to several Swiss banks.

Of course, just because Trump will be president doesn’t mean he can simply order an ongoing case to be dropped. “The justice department enjoys a level of independence, even though the attorney general is appointed by, and reports to, the president,” said Shruti Shah, vice president of programs and operations at Transparency International in Washington, DC.

Others in Malaysia are skeptical about Najib’s claims of coziness with the president-elect. “The reality is, Trump probably played golf and took photos with many others too. So I am not sure about the so-called ‘relationship,’” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a think tank.

For some Malaysians, there is little choice but to pin their hopes on the US justice department under the Trump administration. “As far as people in Malaysia are concerned, it’s very hard for us to do anything about it… it’s a very difficult situation when even parliamentarians are not allowed to discuss this,” said Bersih’s Shahrul.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 December 2016, 1:02 am and is filed under
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Najib’s fear campaign

Bridget Welsh

New Mandala

02 DEC, 2016

The Malaysian Prime Minister’s ruthless tactics to hold onto power at all costs demonstrate that he is the one who is most afraid while his people are willing to fight on, Bridget Welsh writes.

This week Najib Tun Razak is beating the Malay chauvinist drum at his party’s annual general assembly (AGM). Meetings of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) have regularly followed this mode, but the use of racism and paranoia have taken on greater intensity in the face of its leader’s eroding political legitimacy.

For the past two years, Malaysia’s Prime Minister has been beleaguered by the 1MDB scandal that has involved not only nearly $700 million going into Najib’s personal account but also raised issues of criminal money laundering, embezzlement and economic mismanagement involving over $3.5 billion. The case is being investigated and prosecuted in over six jurisdictions, most notably by the US Department of Justice.  The scandal featured centre stage in last month’s Bersih 5 rally in which thousands went to the streets to protest corruption, economic mismanagement and systematic inequalities in the electoral process.

Despite public discontent, Najib has adeptly used a variety of tactics to stay in power, which is crucial if he is to avoid international prosecution. The most obvious of these involves a crackdown on political opponents. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed in 2015. Since then more than 10 opposition politicians have faced a variety of charges from sedition to challenges to ‘parliamentary democracy’. Last month whistleblower and parliamentarian, Rafizi Ramli, was convicted of violating the Official Secrets Act for releasing evidence associated with 1MDB. This week’s UMNO meeting has called for continued no-holds barred attacks on the opposition.

The crackdown on dissent has also targeted civil society. On the eve of the 19 November Bersih 5 rally, its chairperson, Maria Chin Abdullah, was arrested. She was held in solitary confinement and charged as a ‘terrorist’ under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act. This follows a litany of attacks on other activists, cartoonists and artists, as well as ordinary citizens for ‘insulting’ posts on Facebook and WhatsApp. In 2015 there were 91 cases for ‘sedition’ alone. Human Rights Watch has detailed these in an October 2016 report.

The media has also been in the firing line. In 2015 the harassment of publishers led to the closure of The Malaysian Insider. Last month the online portal Malaysiakini was raided, and its editor Steven Gan was charged for simply publishing a video. This comes on the back of the Communication and Media Act being tightened in March. ‘Protection’ from insults has extended beyond Najib to those seen to be protecting him. The aim is to silence criticism of Malaysia’s most unpopular prime minister.

To complement these attacks, Najib’s government has deepened its use of racial chauvinism. From the 2013 elections onwards, it has depicted opposition to it as ‘Chinese’ and reinforced the view that Najib’s UMNO party, is the only viable protector of the Malays. This politicised framing lacks any grounding in reality as over 40 per cent of Malays voted for the opposition in 2013 and the most recent Bersih rally showcased the breadth of multi-ethnic opposition to Najib, especially among young Malays. Nevertheless, Najib’s strategy has increased ethnic tensions along political lines. His ratcheted war-like rhetoric at the UMNO meeting points to a willingness to tear the society apart for his own political survival.

Scare tactics have extended to thuggery, most evident in the crass use of violence and intimidation by the UMNO-linked ‘red shirts’. Some of these political vigilantes – many of them allegedly paid to participate in hooliganism – have also been arrested but have clearly received favourable treatment. Despite official denials, the widespread perception is that thuggery is being promoted by the government.

Najib’s machinations also involve political manoeuvring. He has forged an alliance with conservative Islamist zealots. His government has allowed Wahhabi Islam to extend its extremist and intolerant tentacles through the unchecked and increasingly locally- and internationally-funded religious bureaucracy, with particular support from Najib’s close ally and 1MDB partner Saudi Arabia. Lacking moral authority of his own, Najib has chosen to ally himself with the discredited Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), led by Hadi Awang and his designer suit-wearing appointees. Perceptions of corruption and discriminatory land grabbing from indigenous people have corroded PAS’s public support, as Hadi has introduced a bill that hypocritically strengthens the punishment of ordinary Muslims for immoral activity. This bill, known as RUU 355, will open up opportunities for abuse by authorities in a government where the rule of law is not fairly practised and fuel ethnic tensions. It is no coincidence that bill was reactivated after the Bersih 5 rally.

Most of Najib’s politicking has focused on maintaining the support of his own party. He has repeatedly paid off UMNO leaders for their ‘loyalty’ through patronage while also purging UMNO of its leading critics. Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad resigned from the party earlier this year due to his opposition to Najib, while the party voted to expel former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, another prominent critic of the Prime Minister. Najib appointed the grassroots party-stalwart Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as his deputy, aiming in the short-term to deflect party challenges. He is seen to be holding off on the appointment of his favoured cousin, Hishammudin Hussein. But even within UMNO dissatisfaction remains high due to the realisation that Najib is an electoral liability and UMNO could lose. This is despite the attacks, divisions and lack of clear alternative leadership from the opposition.  The public shows of loyalty through dictator-like salutes of the leader at the UMNO AGM hide real unease among members and growing discontent between UMNO elites and the grassroots.

It is therefore little wonder that Najib has increasingly relied on the levers of power to stay in office. His government has broadened gerrymandering and malapportionment in the 2015-2016 electoral redelineation exercise, conducting it without transparency and repeatedly dismissing the record number of challenges. He has also increased populist measures to buy support among Malaysia’s poorest citizens, a pattern that was replicated in the May 2016 Sarawak state elections. These measures have been introduced despite serious strain on operating budgets for government departments and widespread cuts to education and public services.

To compensate for the lack of funds and rising debt, Najib has turned to his new geostrategic ally – China – for money. Not only did China bail out Najib over 1MDB, but he also returned from a visit to Beijing at the beginning of last month bearing some $34 billion worth of deals, funds perceived to help greasing the patronage wheels ahead of the next elections to be scheduled before the end of 2018.

China has a vested interest in keeping a weak, dependent, autocratic leader in power. Little attention is being paid to the potential loss of Malaysian territory to the Chinese, to the unfavourable terms of these arrangements and their limited positive impact on Malaysia’s economy. Guarding against the possibility of electoral defeat, Najib has also established the new National Security Council, which came into effect in August and allows the prime minister to dictatorially declare a state of emergency through a body made up of his own appointees. At the same time, Najib has created a new special defence force and increased his personal protection.

While the Prime Minister has tried to use fear against his people, the person who has been the most afraid is Najib himself. This week’s UMNO meeting reflects rising paranoia. So far he has managed to hold on to power, but not without incurring serious costs. Growing authoritarianism, widening political polarisation, deepening ethnic tensions and discredited immoral leadership have damaged Malaysia’s social and political fabric. Najib’s mismanagement is also evident in the economy’s contraction and the depreciating currency. That thousands braved threats of arrest and thuggery to attend the Bersih 5 rally shows that many Malaysians are willing to fight on and will not be cowed. The test ahead will be the point when Najib’s fear campaign backfires more widely, and more Malaysians realize that the only thing they have to fear is Najib himself.

Bridget Welsh is a Senior Research Associate of the Center for East Asia Democratic Studies of National Taiwan University. She specializes in Southeast Asian politics, with particular focus on Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore. She has edited/written numerous books including, Reflections: The Mahathir Years, Legacy of Engagement in Southeast Asia, Impressions of the Goh Chok Tong Years, Democracy Takeoff? The B.J. Habibie Period, Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years (a Malay edition Bangkit was published in 2014) and The End of UMNO? Essays on Malaysia’s Dominant Party.  She is the Asian Barometer Survey Southeast Asia core lead, and is currently directing the survey project in Malaysia and Myanmar. From 2015-2016 she was a professor of political science at Ipek University in Turkey. Prior to joining Ipek, she taught at Singapore Management University, the School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington DC and Hofstra University in New York. She received her doctorate in political science from Columbia University, her language training at Cornell University (FALCON) and bachelor’s degree from Colgate University. She also is a Senior Associate Fellow of The Habibie Center, a University Fellow of Charles Darwin University and a Senior Advisor for Freedom House and a member of the International Research Council of the National Endowment for Democracy.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 December 2016, 7:33 am and is filed under
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Najib’s inability to uncover from my 51 years of political life a single instance  to demonstrate that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam is the strongest proof of DAP’s commitment for more than half a century to the Malaysian Dream of a nation for all Malaysians regardless of race or religion

Two days ago, I exposed the three “Big Lies” ala-Nazi propaganda which the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made in his UMNO presidential speech last Thursday, and I  challenged him to list out three Big Lies as DAP had been accused of practicing Nazi-style propaganda of the politics of falsehood, lies, hatred and “Big Lie”.

Najib did not rebut my expose of his two Big Lies, viz:  that the  14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP and that the Malays would suffer “nightmares” if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

But he  tried to rebut my expose of his third Big Lie, that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam, but it was a most pathetic  effort.

I have been in politics for 51 years. With all the resources at its command, with the  Special Branch in Malaysia  one of  the world’s most competent and professional intelligence forces which had succeeded in defeating an armed communist insurrection, is it possible that Najib could not uncover a single instance or example in my more than half a century of political life if the allegations against me for being anti-Malay and anti-Islam have some basis?

What evidence did Najib produce in his winding-up of the UMNO General Assembly debate yesterday?

Just video recording of “Superman” Hew Kuan Yaw telling Sarawakians to let the “Malays screw the Malays”!

I agree Hew was crude, vulgar and wrong to say “Let Malays screw the Malays” but was Najib right to show the Hew video?

Would Najib say Hew was right if Hew had said  “Let Chinese screw the Chinese” or “Let Indians screw the Indians”?

I do not think such crude vulgarity by Hew is because he has  racialist outlook, as he would have no hesitation to use crude and vulgar language to express himself, like  “Let Chinese screw the Chinese” and “Let Indians screw the Indians”.

A wrong is a wrong, but is it necessary for the Prime Minister to racialise crude, vulgar and wrongful expressions?

Furthermore, is Najib aware that Hew is not a DAP member as he had resigned from the party because he knew that the DAP leadership disagreed with his crude and vulgar language and expressions?

Or had Najib been wrongly advised by  his advisers, who had withheld from him the information that Hew is no more a DAP member, or the Hew video would never have been screened in his winding-up speech?

Najib’s inability to uncover from my 51 years of political life  a single instance  to demonstrate that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam is the strongest proof of DAP’s commitment for more than half a century to the Malaysian Dream of a nation for all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion.

I am reminded of the poem I wrote when  I was 16 for my class magazine,
 LIGHT
, when I was in Form IIIA in Batu Pahat High School:

One for all and all for one

We care not what colour, creed or religion you belong

For aren’t each of us Malaya’s son

Then why let silly racial quarrels prolong?

This poem that I composed when I was 16 epitomised my ethos as a  Malaysian.

Najib’s inability  to debunk my expose of his three Big Lies in his UMNO presidential speech and his inability to cite a single instance of DAP “Big Lie”  ala-Nazi propaganda is  Najib’s fourth “Big Lie” in his UMNO presidential speech ala-Nazi propaganda.

Najib has  sadly achieved  what none of the previous five Prime Ministers had done in his UMNO presidential speech on Thursday, elevating to Prime Ministerial level the lies and falsehoods which had hitherto been confined to mercenary party hacks and now cybertroopers.

Should a Prime Minister descend to the level of nameless and faceless cybertroopers who thrived on lies and falsehoods to justify their keep by their masters?

I am reminded of the persistent fictitious tale of DAP-funded “Red Bean Army” of some 3,000 cybertroopers with a budget of RM100 million to RM1 billion to demonise and character-assassinate UMNO/BN leaders on the cyberspace, and which was purportedly a major cause for the defeat of UMNO/BN in the social media war and the 13GE set backs.

The fictitious tale of the 3,000-cybertrooper “Red Bean Army” has been repeatedly resurrected by UMNO/BN cyber-operatives who want budgets running into hundreds of millions of ringgit purportedly to counter the DAP’s non-existing “Red Bean Army”.

I remember that in July 2013, I led a posse of DAP MPs to “raid” Concorde Hotel, the alleged headquarters of the “Red Bean Army”, but all we found was the place crawling with UMNO leaders and operatives –  there was no “Red Bean Army” and even the exorbitant ice-kacang in Concorde Hotel had no red beans at all!

It is sad and shocking that the Prime Minister of Malaysia should be reduced to the level of  cybertroopers, adopting their immorality in telling lies and falsehoods, immersed in the mentality and language of mercenary cybertroopers.

(Media Conference Statement  at the DAP 50th Anniversary Conference held in Shah Alam on Sunday, 4th December 2016 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 4 December 2016, 12:30 pm and is filed under
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Reminder  to UMNO leaders and strategists that they have yet  to accuse the DAP as being funded and directed by the Jews in their baseless  onslaught on DAP during the three phases before, during and after UMNO General Assembly

UMNO leaders and strategists have launched a major publicity onslaught on the DAP in the three phases before, during and after the UMNO General Assembly last weekend, an offensive ala-Nazi “Big Lie” propaganda which is not only baseless, but downright vicious, vindictive and vengeful, lies such as:

1.    That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2.    That the DAP is anti-Malay or  anti-Islam.

3.    The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

But the UMNO “Big Lie” propaganda offensive against DAP is grounded on lies, as evident from the fact that the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could not find a single instance in my 51 years in politics to show that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Imagine! 51 years in politics is equivalent to 612 months, 2,652 week, 18,615 days and the very “productive”  UMNO leaders and strategists could not unearth a single instance to prove that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam and yet they continue with their lies and canard that I am anti-Malay and anti-Islam!

As a perfectionist, I hate to see the UMNO propaganda offensive against DAP being run in so sloppy and sub-standard a manner, failing to use all the ammunition that they could muster against the DAP – although they are lies and falsehoods.

For instance, since the launch of the UMNO propaganda offensive against DAP starting with the ferocious but groundless attack by  the Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin against the DAP in the Johor State Assembly for more than a week, UMNO leaders and propagandists have yet to use one Big Lie against the DAP – that the DAP is funded and directed by Jews!

When will the UMNO leaders and strategists unleash this Jewish missile against the DAP in their vicious but baseless attacks on the DAP?

One of the UMNO leaders and strategists enlisted for the UMNO propangada offensive against the DAP is undoubtedly UMNO Supreme Council member and former Education deputy minister, Datuk Puad Zarkarshi, who showed his hand today when he criticized former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohamad’s praise for DAP  saying that DAP’s using of Bahasa Malaysia in party song and convention speeches did not ensure it would protect Malays.

Lest it be forgotten, after being defeated in the Batu Pahat parliamentary constituency in the 2013 General Election, Puad operated as a roaming Samurai until he was appointed director-general of the Department of Special Affairs (JASA) in the Ministry of Communication and Multimedia – an unabashed propaganda arm of UMNO in the bowels of the government!

One of Puad’s assignments is to mislead Malaysians  about the 1MDB global money-laundering scandal which has brought international ignominy and infamy for Malaysia as  being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” – such as organizing so-called “veracity tours” to tell lies to Malaysian students overseas about Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal.

Puad should explain whether he is responsible for the 20-page glossy, coloured, expensive but anonymous booklet entitled “1MDB PASCA LAPORAN AUDIT NEGARA DAN PAC – SAMAN DOJ MERAGUKAN” – with 19 Q & A on the largest kleptocratic lawsuit in the United States and the world on  the international conspiracy over the  multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

If so, Puad should state how much the booklet project cost, whether it came from public funds, and explain why he or the government dare not assume responsibility for the 1MDB booklet and had to distribute it at the UMNO General Assembly as if it is a shitty underground document that cannot stand the scrutiny of light?

Can Puad explain why the 1MDB scandal, which has stamped Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”, was not raised and explained at the UMNO General Assembly, but was allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five days of UMNO, UMNO Youth, UMNO Wanita, UMNO Puteri Assemblies causing the Prime Minister and UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority?

Last week, world-wide reverberations of the 1MDB kleptocracy continued apace, with Singapore’s central bank imposing penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money-laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund.

The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its crackdown on 1MDB money-laundering, having ordered the closure earlier this year of the local units of Swiss banks BSI and Falcon.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also in the process of issuing a prohibition order against Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman because of the 1MDB scandal.

1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that  two of the five  “relevant individuals” named in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits as key players  in the 1MDB global money-laundering scandal, Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi, managing director  of Abu Dhabi government  wholly-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) 2007-2015  and Chairman of IPIC subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar)  2012-2013 and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny (CEO of Aabar 2010-2015) are now sitting in Abu Dhabi jail under investigation for money-laundering, corruption and other possible offences.

The other three of the five “relevant individuals” named in the US lawsuits, Jho Low, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz (Najib’s stepson) and Eric Tan Kim Loong are more fortunate than Al-Qubaisi and Al-Husseiny, as the Malaysian authorities do not seem to be looking for them and allow them to be international fugitives.

The anonymous 1MDB booklet circulated at the UMNO General Assembly cast doubt that the person identified as “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (MO1) mentioned 36 times in the DOJ lawsuits was the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  – although the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had admitted in a BBC interview that MOI is none other than Najib.

Is the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Government back-tracking from Abdul Rahman’s admission that MOI is Najib?

It would be more useful and productive for Puad to clarify this question than to be an operative in the vicious but baseless UMNO propaganda offensive against the DAP.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 5 December 2016, 1:15 pm and is filed under
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A fictitious Pakatan Harapan + PPBM Cabinet line-up to intensify the UMNO Nazi-style “Big Lie” Propaganda offensive against DAP in the run-up to the 14GE

At the recent UMNO General Assembly, the Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak notched up another octave in the politics of race,  hatred and falsehood when he declared DAP as UMNO’s Enemy No. 1 in the forthcoming 14th General Election, declaring that the Malays will have to decide whether to maintain a government led by UMNO or DAP.

This is of course a political fallacy.

Whatever happens in the 14GE, whether Najib is toppled as Prime Minister or UMNO loses the Federal Government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.

So far, nobody in UMNO and its propaganda apparatus has been able to give a decent reply to the question recently asked by National Laureate Pak Samad as to how Malays would lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election.

Pak Samad had found it odd that the Malay community are obsessed over the loss of power to the country’s other minority groups if UMNO loses control of Putrajaya, and how the Malays and Islam could be under threat, and he had asked:

“How are Malays under threat? How can religion (Islam) and Malays be threatened when those in power have been Malays for over five decades?

“What have they (Malay leaders) been doing for five decades (if Malays can be under threat)?”

The demographics in the country is the surest guarantee that the Malays will not lose political power whatever happens to UMNO in the next general election.

In 1970 Malaysia’s population was made up of 44.32% Malays, 34.34% Chinese, 8.99% Indians, 11.89% non-Malay Bumiputeras, 0.67% others.

In 2010, the percentage of Malays increased to 55.07%, Chinese reduced to 24.34%, Indians dropped to 7.35%, non-Malay Bumiputeras maintained at 11.94% and 1.3% others.

During the 13th general election, 52.63% of the voters were Malays, 29.68% Chinese, 7.31% Indians, 8.96% non-Malay Bumiputeras and 1.43% others.

Out of the 165 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia, 114 are Malay majority seats, 22 Chinese majority seats and 29 mixed seats. There is not a single Indian majority seat.

Is any UMNO leader  suggesting that if UMNO loses in the 14GE, it would be possible for the new Malaysian Government in Putrajaya to ensure the Chinese capture political power by increasing the present 22 Chinese-majority seats to over 83 seats as to constitute a majority of the total of 165 seats in Peninsular Malaysia?

No magician can perform this impossible feat. In fact, the trend is the opposite with fewer than 22 Chinese-majority seats in the coming years because of the demographic realities and declining Chinese population in the country.

Even the UMNO veteran, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah is on public record as saying that he did not know where the perceived threats to Malays were coming from when the government is headed by a Malay, state governments headed by Malays with the exception of Penang, the civil service is mostly made up of Malays, the army are mostly Malays and there are also the Malay rulers.

Malaysia’s foremost civil rights activist, Zainah Anwar, had also questioned where does the “threat to the Malays” come from after nearly 60 years of UMNO rule, and why, after more than four decades of the New Economic Policy, (i) 75.5 per cent of those at the bottom are  Malays; (ii) some 90 per cent of the unemployable university graduates Malays; and (iii) of the RM54 billion worth of shares pumped to Malay individuals and institutions between 1984 and 2005, only RM2 billion remained in Malay hands.

That the Malays will lose political power to  the Chinese if UMNO is defeated in  the 14GE is of course the “Big Lie” Nazi-style propaganda offensive which the UMNO leaders and strategists have launched in the run-up to the next General Elections to create fear,  scare and hatred among the Malay electorate.

This major propaganda offensive adopting the “Big Lie” Nazi-style campaign is increasing in intensity as it  had already been launched, before, during and after the UMNO General Assembly last weekend, and I am not surprised to see in circulation on the social media  a “Barisan Kerajaan Baru 2017 – Pakatan Harapan DAP/PKR/PAN/PPBM” with a 22-Minister Cabinet line-up.

For the first time in the nation’s 60 year history,  I am listed as Prime Minister and Finance Minister in the fake Cabinet list, with Tun Mahathir Mohamad as Deputy Prime Minister, viz:

Prime Minister and Finance Minister – Lim Kit Siang (DAP).

Deputy Prime Minister – Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. BM(PPBM).

Minister in JPM:

Unit Perancang Ekonomi – Lim Guan Eng (DAP).

Integrasi Nasional & Pengurusan Prestasi – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasinh (PPBM).

No portfolio – Sivarasah a/l Rasiah (PKR)

Agama Islam & Hubungan Antara Agama – Mohamad Sabu (PAN)

Pengajian Tinggi – Nga Kor Ming (DAP)

Pelajaran – Azmin Ali (PKR)

Luar Negeri – Nurul Izzah  (PKR)

Pertahanan – Mahfuz Omar (PAS)

Belia & Sukan – Elizabeth Wong (PKR)

Perdaganan Dalam Negeri & Barangan Rakyat – Tony Pua (PKR)

Komunikasi & Hal Ehwal Kaum India – Gobind Singh Deo (DAP)

Wanita & Pembangunan Keluarga – Datuk Seri Wan Azizah (PKR)

Pelancungan & Publicity Antarabangsa – Rafizi Ramli  (PKR)

Sains, Teknologi & Industri Nuklear – Fuziah Saleh (PKR)

Kerja Raya – Zuraida Kamaruddin (PKR)

Komunikasi & Hal Ehwal Kaum Cina – Tian Chua (PKR)

Perumahan & Kerajaan Tempatan – Anthony Loke (DAP)

Perdaganan Antarabangsa & Industri – Teresa Kok (DAP)

Sumber Manusia – S. Manickavasagam  (PKR)

Kesenian, Kebudayaan & Sejarah – Khalid Samad (PAN).

I was quite flattered because this is the first time I have seen myself slated for the PM’s post, although in my 51 years of politics, the thought of being Prime Minister of Malaysia had never entered my mind.

In fact, as the DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said at the DAP 50th Anniversary National Conference on Saturday, DAP had never asked that a Chinese be a Prime Minister but had always supported a Malay especially Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Prime Minister.

Article 43(1) of the Malaysian Constitution makes it very clear that there is no ethnic bar to anyone from becoming a Prime Minister, as the only constitutional pre-condition is to command the confidence of the majority of MPs in Parliament.

As a child, Barack Obama wanted to be President of the United States. In Malaysia, the political reality is very different, and  in the foreseeable future, the Prime Minister of Malaysia will be a Malay although the Malaysian Constitution allows any Malaysian regardless of race to become a Prime Minister.

When I  first time  saw this fictitious Opposition Cabinet line-up, I thought its makers had made a major error as I did not find a Finance Minister – until I saw that the Prime Minister also doubled up as Finance Minister.

This shows how out-of-touch are these conjurers for the DAP had made it very clear that the Prime Minister should not double up as Finance Minister, as Malaysia would not have suffered the ignominy and infamy of being regarded as a “global kleptocracy” if Najib had not doubled up as  Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister – and Malaysia would have been spared the international shame of the global 1MDB money-laundering scandal!

The fictitious Pakatan Harapan Cabinet was designed to reinforce the UMNO “Big Lie” scare-fear-hatred propaganda offensive against the DAP, which is why Mahathir is positioned as Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin in the relatively inconsequential portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Department, the DAP assigned seven Cabinet posts (although Tony Pua was erroneously named as a PKR MP), the relatively junior Cabinet positions for PKR (although given 10 positions in the 22-Minister Cabinet) and Parti Amanah Rakyat.

I have no spoken to Mahathir on the subject, but I do not believe he wants to be back in the Cabinet, even as Prime Minister. Her is after all 91 years old.

These lies and falsehoods  like the fake Cabinet line-up are only opening gambits in the UMNO’s Nazi-style “Big Lie” offensive against the DAP in the intensification and  polarisation of Malaysian politics along both race and religious lines in the run-up to the 14th GE, and more and worst political skulduggery are to be expected in the coming months before the 14GE.

We must not waver however from the objective to Save Malaysia from becoming a rogue and a failed state, and this is why all Malaysians who love Malaysia, whether political parties, organizations or individuals – and equally important, the Federal and State Governments – must have  a more inclusive outlook and commitment which tolerate and accept the role and contribution of all races, religions, regions and groups with one common objective to Save Malaysia from the rampant corruption,  misuses of power, breakdown of the rule of law,  collapse of good governance and liberate Malaysia from the international infamy and ignominy of  a “global kleptocracy”.

(Media Conference Statement at Wisma Penang DAP on Tuesday, 6th December 2016 at 12 noon)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, 1:27 pm and is filed under
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Call for international inquiries into both ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas in Myanmar and the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal resulting in Malaysia being stamped as a “global kleptocracy”

Malaysians feel deeply hurt when the Prime Minister of Malaysia, whatever our political differences with him, is lampooned and made the butt of jokes internationally, as in the case of Sunday’s UMNO-PAS rally on Rohingyas where the Prime Minister called for foreign intervention to stop the “genocide” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Myanmar media and NGOs are lampooning and accusing Najib of using Rohingya rally to divert attention from the 1MDB scandal which had caused Malaysia infamy and ignominy  to be regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”, attracting Myanmar reminders that “people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones” and that Najib himself had recently  told the world with regard to the 1MDB scandal that “the internal affairs of a country should be determined by the people themselves as the formula had been proven successful” and that “Malaysia did not need foreign interference to shape and determine the direction of the country”.

Both Najib and the Myanmese government are wrong, but Najib would not have opened himself as an easy target if Sunday’s Rohingya rally had NOT been organised as a UMNO-PAS rally to win Muslim points but as a humanitarian call by all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or politics.

Unfortunately, the Sunday rally was purely politically motivated, which was why Amanah motion on an urgent, definite, public importance in Parliament moved by the Amanah Kuala Terengganu MP, Raja Kamarul Bahrin on Nov. 24 was rejected by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, as interfering in the domestic affairs of another country.

Let us end hypocrisy in national and international politics.

Both the Malaysian and Myanmar governments must accept their responsibilities and agree to international inquiries into both ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas in Myamar and the international 1MDB money-laundering scandal resulting in Malaysia being stamped as a “global kleptocracy”.

I am very disappointed that  1MDB scandal, which has stamped Malaysia as a “global kleptocracy”, was not raised and explained at the UMNO General Assembly, but was allowed to be the “elephant in the room” throughout the five days of UMNO, UMNO Youth, UMNO Wanita, UMNO Puteri Assemblies causing the Prime Minister and UMNO to lose all political credibility and moral authority?

Last week, world-wide reverberations of the 1MDB kleptocracy continued apace, with Singapore’s central bank imposing penalties on the local units of U.K.-based Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and private bank Coutts for money-laundering breaches related to Malaysia’s scandal-tainted 1MDB fund.

The penalties – of S$5.2 million ($3.65 million) and S$2.4 million, respectively – were the latest punitive measures taken by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in its crackdown on 1MDB money-laundering, having ordered the closure earlier this year of the local units of Swiss banks BSI and Falcon.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is also in the process of issuing a prohibition order against Tim Leissner, Goldman Sachs’ former Southeast Asia chairman because of the 1MDB scandal.

1MDB is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that  two of the five  “relevant individuals” named in the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits as key players  in the 1MDB global money-laundering scandal, Khadem Abdulla Al Qubaisi, managing director  of Abu Dhabi government  wholly-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) 2007-2015  and Chairman of IPIC subsidiary, Aabar Investments PJS (Aabar)  2012-2013 and Mohamed Ahmed Badawy Al-Husseiny (CEO of Aabar 2010-2015) are now sitting in Abu Dhabi jail under investigation for money-laundering, corruption and other possible offences.

The other three of the five “relevant individuals” named in the US lawsuits, Jho Low, Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz (Najib’s stepson) and Eric Tan Kim Loong are more fortunate than Al-Qubaisi and Al-Husseiny, as the Malaysian authorities do not seem to be looking for them and allow them to be international fugitives.

The anonymous 1MDB booklet circulated at the UMNO General Assembly cast doubt that the person identified as “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” (MO1) mentioned 36 times in the DOJ lawsuits was the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak  – although the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had admitted in a BBC interview that MOI is none other than Najib.

Is the UMNO/Barisan Nasional Government back-tracking from Abdul Rahman’s admission that MOI is Najib?

Najib  should explain whether he is responsible for the 20-page glossy, coloured, expensive but anonymous booklet entitled “1MDB PASCA LAPORAN AUDIT NEGARA DAN PAC – SAMAN DOJ MERAGUKAN” – with 19 Q & A on the largest kleptocratic lawsuit in the United States and the world on  the international conspiracy over the  multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

How much the booklet project cost, whether it came from public funds, and explain why he or the government dare not assume responsibility for the 1MDB booklet and had to distribute it at the UMNO General Assembly as if it is a shitty underground document that cannot stand the scrutiny of light?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, 1:41 pm and is filed under
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Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid should explain why Malaysia is dropped from PISA 2015 although Malaysian students participated in the OECD assessment for what is described as the “world school report”

Educationists, teachers and politicians had been waiting for  the OECD’s PISA 2015 results which had been described as the world’s school report – and Malaysia is no exception, especially as the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 had as one of its objectives the elevation of Malaysia into the top one-third of countries participating in international assessments like the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS).

Like educationists, teachers and politicians all over the countries whose 15-year-old  students had taken part in the tests taken by half a million 15-year-olds in 72 countries in maths, reading and science – held every three years – I was waiting this evening for the launch and unveiling of the PISA 2015 results in London at 11 am UK time.

In 2015 over half a million students, representing 28 million 15-year-olds in 72 countries and economies, took the internationally agreed two-hour test. Students were assessed in science, mathematics, reading, collaborative problem solving and financial literacy.

I was shocked and stunned when I combed through the PISA 2015 Report, and could not find Malaysia in the in the world results. Malaysia was the only one of the 72 countries omitted from the PISA 2015 results.

As more and more countries have joined in, the Pisa tests have become increasingly important. They are now seen as the litmus tests for international educational standards.

Did the Malaysian education authorities did something dishonourable and disgraceful for Malaysia to be disqualified at the last minute from the PISA 2015? I do not believe that the several thousands of Malaysian 15-year-olds would have done anything to cause Malaysia’s disqualification from PISA 2015.

A full and detailed explanation from the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir is urgently warranted.

The latest PISA 2015 results show that East Asian countries still dominate the top of the tables, particularly in science and maths.

Singapore has come top in science, maths and reading. And East Asian countries have taken the top five places in maths and three of the top five places in science.

But in reading, while the top two places are taken by Singapore and Hong Kong, the next highest performers are Canada, Finland and Ireland. And in science, Estonia and Finland have made it to the top five.

“The fact that students in most East Asian countries consistently believe that achievement is mainly a product of hard work, rather than inherited intelligence, suggests that education and its social context can make a difference in instilling values that foster success in education,” said Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director of education.

This is also a lesson which Malaysian educationists, teachers and students must absorb, but how can we begin such a process when Malaysia is even disqualified from the PISA 2015?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, 9:26 pm and is filed under
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Lessons of the Arab Spring for Muslim Southeast Asia

MICHAEL VATIKIOTIS, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

New Mandala

06 DEC, 2016

Southeast Asians must value the cohesive elements of society, embrace diversity and not allow political differences to destroy the pluralistic fabric of society if they are to avoid the disinetgration and conflict that has ensued from the Arab Spring, writes Michael Vatikiotis.

To understand the comparative success and failures of political transition in Asia and the Middle East, it is important to say from the outset that in neither part of the world has political transition worked very well.

The Arab Spring soon turned into Arab fall and winter, destroying the former countries of Libya, Syria and Yemen and leading to stronger military rule in Egypt. Here in Asia, there has been more of a rolling transition; it started at the back end of the so-called third wave of democratisation in the mid-1970s and ultimately led to the People Power revolt in the Philippines a decade later.

For different reasons and in different ways, this wave of political liberalisation stalled and then got started again after the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. While Indonesia has undeniably embarked on the path to democracy, it is still regarded as only partly free. Prevailing democracy deficits in the region, suggest that Southeast Asia’s rolling transition still has not completely delivered effective change.

There are lessons each region can learn from the other. And perhaps counterfactually, I tend to think there is more that Asia can learn, specifically Muslim society in Asia, from the Arab context.

Today the Arab world is beset by a tangled mess of repression, radicalism and violence emanating from the failed uprisings of the Arab Spring that got underway in late 2010. As the struggle between oppressive regimes and people seeking liberation unfolded, larger powers stepped in and unleashed centrifugal forces that have divided Arabs along lines of tribe, faith and sect.

Arab society is now eviscerated, the last vestiges of cosmopolitan life purged as Sunni Muslims are subjected to the extreme compulsions of Salafi or Wahhabi doctrine, which in turn pits them against Shiite and Sufi minorities, as well as Christians and Jews.

These struggles, which have played out most violently in Syria and Iraq, have reduced ancient cities that are central to our civilisational DNA to rubble that can probably never be salvaged. Set against this epochal tragedy, Arabs are today searching for ways to salvage what is left of their civilisation.

In this regard, Jordan and Malaysia can be seen as two sides of the same coin. Both are Muslim nations that have achieved a measure of progress and stability, which rests on the assurance of government that fosters a peaceful pluralist setting. But while Jordan strives to protect diversity as a hedge against the violent conflict and extremism afflicting the region, Malaysia’s government seems to be accelerating away from tolerance and moderation in a bid shore up legitimacy with the majority Muslim community.

Tunisia is another country in the Arab world that has made strenuous collective efforts to protect the unity and stability of society by fending off radicalism and strengthening the democratic process. Tunisia, which was ground zero for the Arab Spring, has managed a fragile political transition, which has built a national consensus for the sake of democracy and stability. The Tunisian Constitution passed in 2014, and the inclusive national elections that followed the formation of a coalition government of the winners (Nidaa Tounis) and losers (Enahda) have helped protect diversity and pluralism.

Both Jordan and Tunisia’s efforts to foster and protect diversity and communal harmony in a Muslim majority setting are admirable. Malaysia’s apparent move in the opposite direction is a grave concern in a region where Muslims live side by side with sizeable non-Muslim communities.

We see in Malaysia a trend towards reinforcing Islamic orthodoxy based on literal readings of Islamic law. At first, these impulses were confined to local, state level politics and reflected factional fights within the Malay community. But more recently a move to have Shariah Courts impose punishments recommended by the Islamic penal code, known as Hudud, has managed to find its way to the Federal Parliament and win support among some government MPs. The non-Muslim community in Malaysia has argued this is unconstitutional because the federal constitution provides all Malaysians with equal treatment under the law.

This kind of orthodox advocacy easily finds support in a society where government-controlled media and an increasingly powerful Islamic enforcement bureaucracy propagate the view that the ummat is under threat from non-believers and needs to be protected by enforcing arcane and intolerant aspects of Islamic law and tradition. This, in turn, has started to eat away at the Malay culture and seek to replace it with something that more resembles Arabia in the seventh century.

For many honest Muslims, this, of course, is an ideal path to realising a better Islamic way of life. However, it is also undeniably a path to conflict.

Therefore, in the interests of peace, I argue here that instead of learning how to emulate Arabian life in the seventh century in a misplaced desire to be better adherents to Islam, Muslims in Southeast Asia would be better served learning the lessons of how to avoid the decay of cosmopolitan plural societies in the Arab world that have brought war and destruction to the grand old societies of the Levant in Lebanon, Syria and also to Iraq as well as Yemen.

The signs are not all that good. Far from pushing for more freedom and the guaranteed rights enjoyed by government grounded in popular sovereignty, Muslims in Southeast Asia are instead falling victim to repressive visions of prejudice and intolerance in a misguided quest for a more Islamic way of life.

These past few weeks in Indonesia illustrate the point very well. A constellation of Islamic hard-line groups is doing its best to unseat an elected Governor of Jakarta on the basis that he insulted the Quran, but in reality, it is because he is a Christian and Chinese. A sizeable protest on 4 November brought more than 150,000 people onto the streets of Jakarta calling for the Governor’s resignation.

Now as it happens, many of these people have real grievances; they are poor, often denied access to services or evicted so the government can acquire their land. But was this the reason they were mobilised to protest? No. This was a play by politicians to intimidate elected leaders and undermine their position for purely selfish reasons. They think that by displacing elected leaders, using these fraudulent means, they will open space for their own bid for high office.

Similarly, in Malaysia, Muslim sentiment is being harnessed to crush a multi-racial movement that is highlighting corruption in high places and protesting for fairer elections. In order to protect itself, the government has encouraged conservative elements to rally and accused the protestors of being a threat to Malay culture and Muslim propriety. This clash between pro-government red shirt thugs and the yellow-shirted Bersih Movement threatens to turn violent.

Far from emulating the Arab Spring, which began in 2010 as a bid for popular liberation, Southeast Asian Muslims are allowing the freedoms that underpin their rights to be eroded in the mistaken view that this will protect them. It won’t.

In fact, they are being fooled and misled by selfish politicians and power holders who are seeking only to advance or protect their positions. There can be no political liberation if minds are closed and rights are constrained. The current trajectory is only breeding conflict. It will result in the consolidation of strong repressive leadership and the denial of rights.

If Southeast Asians really want to learn the lessons of the Arab Spring, watch the drone footage of the wreckage of Aleppo. Muslims in Southeast Asia don’t know how lucky they are to live in societies that are still broadly tolerant and inclusive and how healthy it is to have cultural roots that embrace other myths and creeds.

The good news is that mainstream Muslim scholars are increasingly cognisant of the threat to Islam as a civilised way of life. In Indonesia, there are now efforts to inculcate the values of Islam Nusantara in a bid to reinforce pluralism and diversity.

The same kind of transaction between culture and religion needs to happen in Malaysia as well. Southeast Asia needs a cultural spring, one that recognises the polarisation that outside ideological influences and social pressure is generating, and recovers something of the natural equilibrium that has made this part of the world a peaceful home for people of all the major religions.

The primary lesson of the Arab Spring is to value the cohesive elements of society and not to allow political differences to destroy the pluralistic fabric of society.

So how should Asia do its own version of the Arab Spring? Value the cultural moorings of society, respect the institutional safeguards of justice and freedom, and prevent anyone from convincing you that life as a Muslim is better without diversity. If you have doubts, look at the situation in Benghazi, or in Aleppo today.

Based on a presentation to the Third World Forum for Muslim Democrats (WFMD) Tokyo, 24 November 2016.

Michael Vatikiotis is Asia Regional Director for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 6 December 2016, 4:23 pm and is filed under
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14th GE likely to be after 60th National Day celebrations in September as Najib would want to secure a first conviction for Guan Eng to disqualify him from standing as a candidate for next general election and to stop him from continuing as Penang Chief Minister

With the news that the Penang High Court had fixed 34 days next year for the corruption trial of DAP Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, most Malaysians would have wondered how many days would have to be  set aside if  the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had been charged locally for kleptocracy for the multi-billion dollar international 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering scandal which is the subject of investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore, Abu Dhabi  and the United States.

When Guan Eng was subjected to a three-day interrogation spanning some 23 hours by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in May this year in connection with the corruption allegations about the discount over his RM2.8 million bungalow, it was calculated that if Najib had been given the same MACC treatment as Guan Eng for his RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal, the Prime Minister would be questioned for over 12 years by the MACC.

This is because Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal is 1,500 times greater than Guan Eng’s RM2.8 million bungalow allegation, and if Najib is given the same MACC treatment as Guan Eng where the Penang Chief Minister was questioned for three days, Najib will have to be questioned 1,500 x 3 days, yielding 4,500 days. This works out to 12.3 year! Imagine Najib going in and out of MACC office to be questioned for 12 years and four months, from wake-up in the morning to retirement for sleep at night, and doing nothing else!

Similarly, if 34 days are set aside for Guan Eng’s corruption trial, then 34 x 1,500 = 52,500 days (or 143.8 years or more than two lifetimes for Najib) would have to be set aside if there is a kleptocracy trial for Najib in a  Malaysian court!

The dates set for Guan Eng’s corruption trial are an important indicator for the 14th General Election as Najib would  want to secure a first conviction for Guan Eng to disqualify him from standing as a candidate in the 14th  general election and to stop him from continuing  as Penang Chief Minister.

The dates fixed for Guan Eng’s corruption trial are March 27 to 31, April 10 to 14, April 24 to 28, May 15 to 19, May 29 to June 2, June 13 to 16 and July 17 to 21 as  the prosecution has a list of  60 witnesses as well as  13,000 pages and 35 volumes of documents.

With the 34 days set aside for Guan Eng’s trial going all the way to the end of July,  it is one strong indication that the 14th GE is likely to be held after 60th National Day celebrations centred on National Day on August 31, 2017.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 10:07 am and is filed under
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1MDB: The Abu Dhabi Connection

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.

Personal Greed

The official link between Abu Dhabi and 1MDB was for a $1 billion investment into Malaysian real estate, hospitality and energy via a bond guarantee in 2009. Funds put up by 1MDB as collateral against the guarantee never reached Abu Dhabi, landing instead in what is believed to be an British Virgin Island vehicle set up by Al-Qubaisi and Mohamed Badaway Al Husseiny, the former head of an IPIC subsidiary, Aabar.

U.S. investigators believe that billions in 1MDB cash made its way to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, his stepson Riza Aziz and Jho Low in this fashion.

Al-Qubaisi appears to have stumbled over personal greed, enriching himself with million-dollar kickbacks on deals done for the emirate in an ostentatious fashion grossly at odds with the emirate’s Islamic traditions.

Clubbing in St.-Tropez

For example, Al-Qubaisi was snapped at a St.-Tropez nightclub frolicking with a topless woman, in unattributed pictures published by blog «Sarawak Report» (see below).

He appears to have spent his ill-gotten gains on a stake in a Formula 1 racing team, $31 million kept in luxury cars stored in Switzerland including a Bugatti Veyron, homes in France, private jets, and cash maintained in a Luxembourg account.

Another business contact said he met Al-Qubaisi at a villa in the south of France where the IPIC head conducted business in his swimsuit while women in scant clothing milled around. On official business in Las Vegas, where Abu Dhabi owns the Omnia nightclub, British singer Rita Ora sang «Happy Birthday» to Al-Qubaisi three years ago at Hakkasan, another emirate-owned club.

His attempts to enrich himself grew ever more audacious, the newspaper reported: A consulting firm claimed that Al-Qubaisi asked outright for a $300 million kickback in relation to IPIC’s attempted takeover of the Four Seasons Group, a hotel operator. Neither the acquisition nor the kickback appears to have materialized.

Bring to Justice

Al-Qubaisi, who along with Al Husseiny is imprisoned in Abu Dhabi, had already been pegged by Swiss investigators. However, the emirate has until now been reserved about the matter, aside from removing Al-Qubaisi from his post last spring, a move for which no explanation was given.

Instead, clues have come from outside Abu Dhabi, such as from the U.S. investigation. Switzerland, where IPIC owns Zurich-based Falcon Private Bank, has also been instructive.

Al-Qubaisi and Al Husseiny are likely to be the two people that investigators were referring to when they shut down Falcon’s Singapore branch and sanctioned its Swiss head office in October. The two «pursued their own illegitimate purposes,» Finma, the Swiss regulator, said at the time.

Al-Qubaisi’s and Al Husseini’s alleged wrong-doing is hard to pin down because Abu Dhabi isn’t officially cooperating with the global 1MDB investigation. The emirate merged IPIC into another, larger sovereign wealth fund this summer, but not before taking a $3.5 billion provision for the 1MDB bond guarantees. Neither man has been charged.

«We are committed to bringing him to justice,» a member of the UAE’s ruling family told «The Wall Street Journal,» without elaborating.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 7 December 2016, 3:03 pm and is filed under
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