Can Pandikar explain how he could ban the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB from being presented to Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document when the same  report had been presented to PAC earlier?

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is reported to have told Parliament  that the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB could not be tabled in Parliament because the document had not been declassified.

He said:  “I cannot allow a classified document to be tabled in the House. I will be violating the Official Secrets Act 1972 if I allow it.”

Can Pandikar explain how he could ban the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB from being presented to Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document when the same report had earlier  been presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is a committee of Parliament, and should have been appended to the PAC Report on 1MDB which was tabled in Parliament yesterday?

Is Pandikar going to report the  PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin as well as all the PAC members to the police for having  committed breaches of the Official Secrets Act when they had access to the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB?

This is a most ludicrous situation, where a report had  beenj presented to a parliamentary select or standing committee, but not to Parliament.

In fact, Pandikar is probably the only Speaker in the world who is barring the presentation of a report in Parliament on the ground that it is a classified document and official secret?

What type of a parliamentary reform is Malaysia pioneering in the world of Parliaments?

In any event, what is in the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB which is more damaging to  government leaders, including the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, that the AG’s final audit report has still to be kept under “lock and key” and denied to the general public, while the PAC report on the 1MDB could be released?

What are these more damaging materials in the Auditor-General’s final audit report to the government and the Prime Minister as compared to the PAC report on the 1MDB?

Is there a “smoking gun” in the Auditor-General’s final audit report, directly implicating Najib in the 1MDB scandal?

Furthermore,  how could the Najib administration convince Malaysians and the world that it has been completely transparent and accountable in the  PAC investigations into 1MDB when there are materials in the AG’s final audit report which are regarded as even more damaging than the PAC report?

The PAC Chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin had publicly made a commitment that the Auditor-General’s final audit report would be made public when the PAC Report is tabled in Parliament.

Members of Parliament as well as Malaysians are entitled to know who is the person responsible for overruling the PAC Chairman.

Who made the final decision that the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB could not be made public – was he the PAC Chairman, the Speaker or the Prime Minister himself?

Does Najib hav any objection to the publication of the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB, and the reasons? Let us hear from the Prime Minister.

(Speech at the DAP “Battle of Sarawak, Battle for Malaysia” fund-raising dinner held at Starlight Seafood Naturalle, Petaling Jaya on Thursday, 7th April 2016)

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Critical 1MDB Report Spares Malaysia’s Najib Razak

Tom Wright

Wall Street Journal

April 7, 2016

Board offers to resign; some allege an attempt to shield leader from damage in corruption scandal at fund he set up

By TOM WRIGHT

A Malaysian state development fund’s board of directors offered to resign after a report that found billions of dollars went missing from the fund but which made no mention of Prime Minister Najib Razak, prompting critics to accuse officials of shielding him.

The findings of the parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, released Thursday, mark the first time a Malaysian investigating body has leveled allegations of fraud connected to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, which is the focus of corruption probes in Malaysia and at least six other nations.

Still, the report appeared to take pressure off Mr. Najib, who founded 1MDB in 2009, heads its separate board of advisers and has been the target of criticism over the scandal. Critics suggested the committee’s findings against 1MDB management, the absence of Mr. Najib’s name, and the directors’ offer to resign were orchestrated moves designed to protect the prime minister.

“It’s all planned that way; so we could attribute blame on [the board] but exonerate the prime minister. It means nothing,” said Zaid Ibrahim, a former cabinet minister and leader in an alliance opposed to Mr. Najib.

In response to the report, which recommended that senior management face a criminal investigation, 1MDB’s board of directors offered its collective resignation. “The board has successfully steered 1MDB through a uniquely challenging period and trusts that, with the release of the PAC report, a line has been drawn,” the board said in a statement. The fund has said previously that it has cooperated with authorities and would continue to do so. On Thursday, it again denied any wrongdoing.

The Wall Street Journal, citing Malaysian and global investigations, has reported how investigators have found over $1 billion was transferred to Mr. Najib’s personal bank accounts, the majority originating from 1MDB and moving via a web of intermediary entities.

Mr. Najib has denied wrongdoing or taking money for personal gain. On Thursday, Mr. Najib said in a statement that the parliamentary report “identified weaknesses in 1MDB’s capital structure and management. We will study and act on the report’s recommendations. We must ensure that lessons are learned, and action will be taken if any evidence of wrongdoing is found.”

Switzerland’s financial regulator has said evidence in the 1MDB investigation represented a clear case of corruption. “We are talking about cash flows amounting to several billion U.S. dollars, with individual transactions running into hundreds of millions,” Mark Branson, CEO of the Financial Market Supervisory Authority, said Thursday.

The head of the Malaysian parliamentary committee, Hasan Arifin, said in a statement that it “calls upon the authorities to study the report very carefully, and carry out the necessary investigations. The law must be exercised if any wrongdoing is found.”

The fund’s detractors have questioned why the committee didn’t focus more on Mr. Najib, who played a key role at 1MDB, including firing auditors and authorizing transfers of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to board minutes reviewed by the Journal.

“This is to be expected since the PAC cannot implicate the elephant in the room, Mr. Najib,” said James Chin, head of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania and a specialist in Malaysian politics. “The report still does not tell us where the money went so the allegations that it ended up in Mr. Najib’s account are still unresolved. On the surface, it looks like the previous management has been pushed under the bus.”

The report said there were constraints and weaknesses at 1MDB’s management and board of directors, and called for law-enforcement agencies to investigate the fund’s management and former Chief Executive Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.

Mr. Shahrol, who now works in the prime minister’s office, released a statement via state news agency Bernama saying there was no wrongdoing under his watch and pledging to cooperate with investigators. “I will continue to extend my full cooperation, confident in the knowledge that I have done no wrong and have nothing to hide,” he said.

According to the committee’s report, 1MDB’s debts now stand at approximately $12.8 billion. The report said the fund has reached agreements in recent months to sell off most of its assets, mainly land and power plants. Arul Kanda, the current chief executive, told Malaysian television Thursday that 1MDB will eventually become “a shell company…with no daily operations.’’

Tony Pua, a member of the committee and of the opposition Democratic Action Party, criticized the actions of 1MDB as investigations into its activities were pursued, accusing the fund of giving half-truths and withholding information.

The fund said the report didn’t specifically reference the recommendation of a criminal probe, though Mr. Pua and legal experts said any law-enforcement investigation would include probing potential criminal behavior.

In November, Malaysian reporters asked Mr. Hasan, head of the committee, why the body wasn’t calling Mr. Najib to give evidence. He replied: “I have to earn a living.” He later said the remarks were a joke.

Malaysia’s attorney general in January cleared Mr. Najib of wrongdoing, saying $681 million of the money that entered his accounts in 2013 was a legal donation from Saudi Arabia’s royal family, and that most of it was returned. The attorney general hasn’t commented on the other money that investigators believe entered Mr. Najib’s accounts.

—Celine Fernandez and Yantoultra Ngui in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.

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How could the PAC exonerate the Prime Minister of any criminal wrongdoing in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal when it had not even summoned Najib to appear as a witness?

UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, media and cybertroopers have gone to town after the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB in Parliament yesterday, declaring as one UMNO/BN media has blared from its front-page today:
“No criminal wrongdoing on the part of PM”
.

How could the PAC exonerate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of any criminal wrongdoing in the RM50 million 1MDB scandal, when it had not even summoned Najib to appear as a witness?

It is noteworthy that these propagandists had also blissfully ignored the suppression of the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB, which would normally be appended to the PAC report on 1MDB.

I have read through the 106-page PAC report on the 1MDB and I cannot find any exoneration of the Prime Minister in the 1MDB scandal.

May be Ministers and UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists who are going to town on this claim would like to point out and share the parts or paragraphs in the PAC report which had exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing!

While the PAC Deputy Chairman and DAP MP for Kepong, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw is right that there is nothing in the PAC report which directly implicated Najib for being responsible for the 1MDB scandal, I can refer to many paragraphs and parts in the PAC report which clearly calls for further investigation as they point in the direction that Najib must bear responsibility for the 1MDB scandal.

As the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak is  very “gung-ho” in asserting that Najib is not implicated or responsible in any way for the RM50 billion and RM4.2 billion twin mega scandals, is he prepared to arrange for a series of live telecast forum on the topic on whether the PAC Report had exonerated Najib of any responsibility in the 1MDB scandal, for participation not only by PAC members from both sides of the House but also others concerned about the issue?

Salleh should know that  when the PAC made the recommendation for the removal of  Clause 117 of the 1MDB memorandum and articles of association (M&A), which provides that the “written approval” of the  Prime Minister, who chairs 1MDB advisory board, is a requirement for any changes to the M&A, any appointments or terminations of directors and top management, as well as any “financial commitments (including investments), restructuring or matters involving government guarantees”, it is in fact pointing to Najib’s responsibility in the 1MDB scandal.

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PAC report into RM50 billion 1MDB scandal is only tip of the iceberg

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal is only the tip of the iceberg.

Anyone who have read the 106-page PAC report cannot help getting the feeling that the PAC report is wrestling with larger forces than those it has named and identified, which is why the PAC has attracted not only national, but international, interest and attention and why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion twin mega scandals have catapulted Malaysia among the top ten nations in the world infamous for global corruption.

Has the PAC report succeeded in laying to rest or rebutting in any manner  international perceptions that Malaysia is now one of the world’s top nations in global corruption

The sad answer is in the negative.  In fact, the PAC report will only confirm these international perceptions and doubts, which is why the 1MDB scandal is the subject of separate investigations by half a dozen countries, including the subject of the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) under the US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative, and none of them will halt investigations because of the PAC Report.

There has been some controversy that there is disagreement between the two DAP members on the PAC on the PAC report, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw and Tony Pua.

This is not the case.

PAC Deputy Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw is correct in pointing out that the PAC report has not directly involved Najib as being responsible for the 1MDB scandal. In fact, no PAC report making such connection, will ever see the light of day in Malaysia.

However, what is more important about the PAC report is not what is revealed, but what could be read between the lines of the report.

There is therefore no contradiction between what Seng Giaw said and the position taken by DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua, that critics of 1MDB in the past year and more have been vindicated by the PAC report about gross mismanagement and wanton neglect by those responsible for 1MDB.  In fact, the crimes of the 1MDB scandal are even more heinous.

The PAC report needs further study and digestion, but what is important is the next step,  how to probe further than just the “tip of of the iceberg” – a job which other countries of the world will do if Malaysians themselves are not up to it to  get to the bottom of the truth of the 1MDB scandal, which will be to the eternal shame of Malaysia!

                This entry was posted on Friday, 8 April 2016, 9:37 am and is filed under
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Call for four-day emergency Parliament on the PAC report on 1MDB end April or early May to debate Malaysia’s first global scandal in history

I have not been able to attend the month-long meeting of Parliament from  March 7 to April 7 because I was suspended from Parliament for six months from October 22 last year insisting that  the “truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about Malaysia’s two  global scandals – Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s  RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals – should be told in Parliament.

I strongly objected not only to Najib’s twin mega scandals, but the undermining of the independence, credibility and professionalism of national institutions and the doctrine of the separation of powers which are important basis for Malaysian democracy in order to enable Najib to avoid full responsibility and accountability for the twin mega scandals.

The sudden sacking of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as  the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the dissolution of the Special Task Force on the 1MDB scandal comprising the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, Bank Negara Governor and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner, the four-month sabotage of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations into 1MDB until the appointment of “cari makan” PAC Chairman Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin were the backdrop to my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22.

Bagan is the 99th parliamentary constituency I am visiting during my six-month suspension from Parliament, for my visits to close to 100 parliamentary constituencies in Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johore in the past five months have reinforced my conviction that what the Najib government is doing is  akin to trying to “wrap fire with paper” in trying to sweep the two global scandals in the nation’s history under the carpet.

Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion scandals are Malaysia’s first global scandals in the nation’s history and there is no way that the Najib government can “wrap fire with paper” by trying to ban discussion on these scandals, even by invoking the  “sub judice rule”  to impose a blanket ban in Parliament on Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal.

This is best illustrated by the tabling on Thursday of the PAC Report on 1MDB, which UMNO/BN leaders, strategists and propaandists hail as an exoneration for Najib’s wrongdoing in the twin mega scandals and should be an end to all allegations against Najib.

Yet on the same day, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma), which is responsible for Switzerland’s financial regulation, has described the Malaysia’s 1MDB and Brazil Petrobras scandals as “clear cases of corruption”.

Referring to money from the two entities which passed through the Swiss financial system, Finma chief executive officer Mark Branson called 1MDB and Petrobras prime examples of money laundering risks that Switzerland is facing.

Speaking at the  Finma Annual Conference 2016 in Berne, Switzerland on the same day, Branson outlined  what he said were troubling aspects to both cases.

He said: “These are not events from years ago – the money was still being accepted until quite recently. We are not talking about legacy issues.

“From what it looks like, we are not dealing here with shades of grey. The evidence points to clear cases of corruption.

“The extent of the cases and the sums involved are vast. We are talking about cash flows amounting to several billion US dollars, with individual transactions running into hundreds of millions.

“Those are significant sums of money for developing nations like Malaysia and Brazil, in which the average monthly income is less than US$1,000.”

The 48-hour history of the long-awaited Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on the 1MDB also tells an interesting and strange story.

I went to Parliament House on Thursday to join the march of Members of Parliament from Parliament to Bukit Aman to protest against the arrest of PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli in the vicinity of Parliament on Tuesday evening.

I reached Parliament House about 8.30 am, and one of the DAP MPs with me went into the Parliament Chambers to collect the papers for the day, placed on the  table of each MP.

But the MP was not allowed to take out the PAC Report on the 1MDB, although it was put on the table, on the ground  it was embargoed until 10 am.

This is the first time in Malaysian parliamentary history that documents tabled on MPs table were physically barred from being taken out of the Chambers, although subject to an embargo.

Previously, MPs were never prevented from taking out government papers and reports including budget papers and Treasury Reports  put on their tables but which were embargoed until a particular date and time.

This shows the nervousness of the powers-that-be about the PAC report on the 1MDB, who had hoped that the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal would be the final and definitive word on the 1MDB scandal as the Najib had been exonerated of all wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal.

They cannot be more wrong, and if UMNO/BN strategists and propagandists think they could influence national and international opinion in this direction, they cannot be more naïve and wrong.

The PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal is only the “tip of the iceberg” and all efforts at democratic, accountable and good governance must directed at exposing and  unveiling the “iceberg” that remains tantalisingly hidden from view by  the PAC report.

UMNO/Barisan Nasional leaders, media and cybertroopers have gone to town after the tabling of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report exonerated Najib of any criminal wrongdoing in the RM50 million 1MDB scandal.

I believe that I am one of the few MPs who have ploughed through the PAC Report, and it does nothing of the sort.

PAC Deputy Chairman and DAP MP for Kepong, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw is right when he said  that there is nothing in the PAC report which directly implicated Najib for being responsible for the 1MDB scandal, but  I can refer to many paragraphs and parts in the PAC report which clearly calls for further investigation as they point in the direction that Najib must bear responsibility for the 1MDB scandal.

In any event, how can the PAC exonerate Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal when it had not even summoned Najib to appear as a witness?

In fact, everything point in the direction of Najib of having to assume full responsibility for the 1MDB scandal.

This is clear  when the PAC made the recommendation for the removal of Clause 117 of the 1MDB memorandum and articles of association (M&A), which provides that the “written approval” of the Prime Minister, who chairs 1MDB advisory board, is a requirement for any changes to the M&A, any appointments or terminations of directors and top management, as well as any “financial commitments (including investments), restructuring or matters involving government guarantees”, it is in fact pointing to Najib’s responsibility in the 1MDB scandal.

It is very clear that under Clause 117 of the 1MDB M&A, Prime Minister Najib is solely responsible for the 1MDB scandal, even more responsible than the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and others in the 1MDB management that the PAC Report is scapegoating.

There seems to be a certain panic among Najib’s strategists and propangadists as it seems to have dawned on them that the PAC Report on the 1MDB is not  the final and definitive end of the issue in Malaysia, but merely opens up the subject to greater and more intense public scrutiny.

The statements yesterday by the BN Strategic Communications Director and Housing Minister, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the UMNO Information Chief, Datuk Annuar Musa  and other leaders trying to close the 1MDB subject  have no credibility and traction whatsoever, so much so that the PAC Chairman has to end his “political sickness” which is supposed to last over a month until next parliamentary meeting, to come out with a media interview exclusive with Bernama!

But all these talk of PAC Report exonerating Najib and be the final and definitive word would not wash, and the subject is as open-ended as ever.

Progressive Parliaments in other countries would have full and wide-ranging debate on the long-awaited PAC Report on 1MDB scandal especially it has become a global scandal responsible for the country’s reputation as one of world’s top ten countries infamous for global corruption , but the Malaysian Parliament just adjourned on Thursday without any debate on the PAC Report whatsoever.

This is a gross irresponsibility on the part of Parliament.

For this reason, I call for a four-day emergency Parliament on the PAC report on 1MDB at the end of  April or early May to debate Malaysia’s first global scandal in history – before the next scheduled meeting of Parliament from May 16.

(Speech at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah at Pusat Penjaja Apollo, Raja Uda, Bagan on  Saturday, 9th April 2018 at 9  am)

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Challenge to PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin to public forum on “Has the  PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?” in KL/PJ next Wednesday

Is the “cari makan” Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin  sick or well – whether it is “political sickness” or otherwise?

On the eve of the release of the long-awaited PAC Report on 1MDB on Thursday, the PAC Secretariat sent a text message to PAC members that Hasan would only answer media queries on the “anticipated” PAC report on 1MDB in the next Dewan Rakyat meeting, which is more than a month away from May 16 to May 26.

The PAC Secretariat informed PAC members that Hasan was ill and that he would not be holding a press conference on Thursday after the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB in Parliament, although he had “prepared a press statement to be distributed to the media tomorrow”.

The text message continued:

“YB Datuk Chairman is also asking for assistance to inform journalists that if they have any questions or want further explanations regarding the report, he will explain it in the coming Parliament session.”

Apparently, the PAC Chairman had been struck down by a yet-undisclosed sickness which, after his prepared media statement for the media on Thursday, will incapacitate him from answering media questions about the PAC Report on the 1MDB, until the next Parliamentary meeting starting on May 16.

This is indeed a strange sickness which Hasan had anticipated will last for some 40 days or seven weeks until the next Parliamentary meeting, and I must confess that I was uncharitable at the time in wondering whether this was more a “political disease” rather than a genuine sickness.

I was greatly surprised therefore that Hasan had to drag him out of “convalescence” yesterday to give a long exclusive media interview to Bernama, which basically want Malaysians to believe that the PAC Report on 1MDB had exonerated the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, from any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

Before Hasan’s surprise interview from his “sick-bed”, various Cabinet Ministers and UMNO/BN leaders had issued media statements claiming that Najib had been exonerated by the PAC Report of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal and that there should be a halt to all allegations accusing Najib of wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal – statements from the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak, the Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan who is also Director the BN Strategic Media Communications (whatever-that-means) and UMNO Information Chief Datuk Annuar Musa, among many others.

But these self-serving statements and claims by these UMNO/BN bigwigs had no credibility whatsoever and the PAC Chairman had to be forced to come out of his 40-day “convalescence” to stress that the PAC Report on 1MDB had exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and that the PAC Report on the 1MDB is the final and definitive word on the 1MDB scandal.

Hasan Arifin cannot be more naïve or wrong, as he is trying to revise and rewrite the PAC Report on 1MDB, for the PAC report did not exonerate Najib of any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the 1MDB scandal.

Furthermore,  the PAC Report is not the final and definitive word about the 1MDB scandal but only the tip of the iceberg of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

The challenge now is how to unveil and reveal the whole iceberg of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

This is why in Bagan this morning, I had called for a four-day Special Parliament session at the end of April or early May to debate the PAC report on the first Malaysian global scandal in the nation’s history.

If Hasan still insists that the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerates Najib from any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, I challenge him to a public forum on “Has the PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?” in KL/PJ next Wednesday.

To provide a proper balance, I will  invite the Pakatan Harapan MP on the PAC, Tony Pua, as well as other Malaysians concerned about the subject to the forum.

If Najib or the 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy wants to participate in this forum, they are also welcome.

(Speech at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah in his visit to 100th parliamentary constituency in  Air Itam, Bukit Gelugor  on  Saturday, 9th April 2018 at 1 pm)

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Malaysia’s leader is a friend Mr. Obama should lose

By Editorial Board

Washington Post

April 7

BACK IN January, Malaysia’s autocratic-minded prime minister, Najib Razak, tried to decree the end to a scandal involving the appearance of $681 million in his personal bank accounts. After an attorney general he installed reported that the money was a donation from the Saudi royal family, and did not involve wrongdoing, Mr. Najib declared: “The matter has been comprehensively put to rest.” Malaysians who argued otherwise, officials suggested, risked prosecution under the country’s draconian sedition law.

Fortunately for the rule of law in Malaysia, the strongman’s gambit failed. Revelations about alleged misappropriation of funds from a Malaysian state investment fund set up by Mr. Najib continue to pour forth, and investigations in half a dozen nations appear to be gathering momentum. Malaysia’s scandal appears likely to implicate financiers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United States as well as some big Western banks. Perhaps most important, the chances that Mr. Najib will himself face legal and political consequences are steadily growing.

At the center of the scandal is a fund established by Mr. Najib in 2009 called 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB. The entity has borrowed $11 billion, and Swiss authorities are saying that as much as $4 billion may have been improperly diverted. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than $1 billion entered Mr. Najib’s personal accounts between 2011 and 2015, including the $681 million transfer, most or all of it originating with 1MDB.

Mr. Najib has insisted the funds were not for his personal use, but were used to legally fund his party’s 2013 election campaign. According to the Journal, millions were transferred to party officials. But at least $15 million was used for personal expenses, including lavish spending on clothes, jewelry and a car. Moreover, the newspaper reported that $150 million went from 1MDB to a Hollywood production company set up by Mr. Najib’s stepson, who invested it in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and other films.

Mr. Najib’s strategy for combating the allegations relies almost entirely on repression. Last year he fired a deputy prime minister and the previous attorney general — according to one report, shortly before criminal charges were to be brought against him. At least 15 people have been charged under the sedition law, which Mr. Najib once promised to repeal; opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has been imprisoned for more than a year on trumped-up sodomy charges. The government has blocked news websites, deported foreign journalists and even banned yellow T-shirts used by anti-corruption campaigners.

Increasingly, it looks like a losing effort. Even if Malaysia’s investigators are blocked, those in other countries appear likely to move forward and expose how money was diverted. The Malaysian economy is meanwhile sputtering, and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has formed a coalition to seek Mr. Najib’s ouster.

All this ought to sway the Obama administration, which has cultivated Mr. Najib even amid the growing evidence of corruption and his repressive response. Last month the State Department objected to the government’s crackdown on the media, but President Obama, who invited Mr. Najib to a round of golf in 2014, has met with him twice more since November without commenting on the mounting scandal. It’s past time for the administration to distance itself from a ruler who appears headed for well-deserved disgrace.

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Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh challenged to televise live the forum next Wednesday in Shah Alam featuring PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin and  PAC member Tony Pua on “Has the  PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”

Tasek Gelugor is the 102nd parliamentary constituency I am visiting since my six-month suspension on Oct. 22 last year basically for demanding that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be accountable and responsible to Parliament for his RM42 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals.

Although I have not been able to attend the recent month-long parliamentary meeting, my visit to over 100 parliamentary constituencies in Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor has given me an unique insight into the thinking of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or politics – that they want answers to simple questions as to where the monies from the twin mega scandals had come from and where the monies had gone to.

In the past six months, such answers had not been forthcoming, although the twin mega scandals have become even greater – as we are now talking about RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and not RM42 billion 1MDB scandal, and RM4.2 billion Najib’s “donation” scandal and no more RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal.

Yesterday, during my 100th parliamentary constituency visit  in Bukit Gelugor, I challenged the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin to a forum in Shah Alam next Wednesday on
“Has the PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”
, as Hasan has claimed that the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Najib from any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

I have read the PAC Report on the 1MDB and I do not find any such exoneration of Najib in the Report. Are we referring to the same PAC Report?

However, I am assured of my sanity and that I am not reading a different PAC Report as the DAP MP for PJ Utara, Tony Pua, agreed with me, when he publicly said that the PAC Report on 1MDB did not clear the Prime Minister as claimed by several BN Ministers, and that  the more correct thing to describe the situation is “Instead of saying PAC cleared the prime minister, the way to say it is PAC failed to clear the prime minister”.

To provide balance to Hasan Arifin for  the
“Has the PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”
 forum in Shah Alam on Wednesday, I have invited Tony Pua who has accepted the invitation.

Other Malaysians, including the 1MDB CEO, Arul Kanda Kandasamy, the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi who is unfairly blamed by the PAC Report as the worst culprit in the 1MDB  scandal, are welcome to take part in the forum – for Malaysians would want to know the full and real truth about the first global scandal in the nation’s history.

I want to  challenge the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak to televise live the forum next Wednesday in Shah Alam featuring PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin, PAC member Tony Pua and others  on
“Has the  PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”
.

Salleh had been very “gung-ho” in wanting to televise live the debate on the Taman Manggis land between the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng through the slot of RTM programme called “Democracy”.

Is Salleh prepared to be equally quick and efficient to announce that RTM would televise live the public forum in Shah Alam on
“Has the  PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”
, featuring the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin, PAC member Tony Pua as well as others including myself?

(Speech at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah in visit to 102nd parliamentary constituency Tasek Gulogor at Sungei Dua on Sunday 10th April 2018 at 1pm)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016, 5:57 pm and is filed under
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DAP has temporarily weathered the three-week political typhoon to eliminate Lim Guan Eng as DAP Penang Chief Minister with the allegation of  corruption to distract attention from Malaysia’s first global corruption scandal with the PAC report on 1MDB on Thursday

DAP has temporarily weathered the three-week political typhoon to eliminate the DAP Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng with the allegation of corruption to distract attention from Malaysia’s first global corruption scandal with the presentation of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1MDB on Thursday.

This reminds me of the sudden tempest during the last general elections when there was a  powerful  and highly-financed operation to defeat Guan Eng in the Air Puteh state assembly seat, where money flowed like water in the constituency, with reported RM40 million spent to buy Guan Eng’s defeat in the 13,848-voter constituency and remove him as Penang Chief Minister.

Those people who were responsible for the gala time for Air Puteh voters –  free food, drinks, lucky draw, generous angpows and even entertainment activities provided for FREE – are now back in operation, this time to remove Guan Eng as Penang Chief Minister on the ground of corruption in the RM2.8 million purchase of his bungalow.

Two wrongs do not make a right, and if Guan Eng is guilty of corruption in his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase, the full rigours of the law should be applied.

However, the maxim that a person is innocent until proven guilty must be scrupulously observed.

In this case, the allegation of Guan Eng’s corruption over the  sale of Taman Manggis land to KLDIC has proved to be baseless, as the Taman Manggis land had been sold by the Penang State Government via open tender to the highest bidder.

Even the allegation that the DAP-led Penang State Government had “robbed” the people of low-cost housing in Taman Manggis had easily been debunked with the declassification of the State Exco minutes of the Gerakan State Government in 2005 and 2007 which showed that the government back then had no plans whatsoever to build homes for the poor.

In contrast, the DAP-led Penang State Government had commenced a separate low, low-medium cost and affordable housing less than two kilometres away in  Jalan S.P. Chelliah which is nearly 10 times the size of the land in Taman Manggis.

I have maintained that two wrongs do not make a right. The  Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) must prove that there are two wrongs. But the MACC seems to be politically directed to prove that there are no two wrongs, but only one wrong – Lim Guan Eng and not Najib Razak.

I call on MACC to  demonstrate that it is not directed or influenced by political consideration in carrying out its investigations, which had caused the death of Teoh Beng Hock for which justice has yet to be rendered.

The MACC should explain why it had immediately swung into action after the corruption allegations against Guan Eng by UMNO/BN leaders, despatching scores of MACC officers to investigate Guan Eng’s case, but similar actions had not been taken with regard to the first global corruption scandals in the country, involving the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak?

As Najib’s RM4.2 billion donation scandal is 1,500 times bigger than Guan Eng’s alleged RM2.8 million bungalow scandal, while the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal is 20,000 times bigger than the alleged RM2.8 million bungalow scandal, had MACC assigned hundreds of MACC officers to investigate Najib’s twin mega scandals, when it could assign scores of MACC officers to Guan Eng’s case?

If the MACC is subject to the political direction of the powers-that-be, then Guan Eng is likely to be arrested and charged in court for corruption, believing that this will be a fatal blow to the DAP, in particular to the DAP-led Penang State Government.

There is now a great fear of the DAP among several quarters, the latest from Sarawak with the latest news  that the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem is mulling over the banning of Guan Eng, myself as well as the PKR President Datuk Seri Azizah Wan Ismail, from entering Sarawak for campaigning in the 11th Sarawak State Elections.

There is already a long list DAP and PKR Members of Parliament banned from entering Sarawak, including DAP National Vice Chairman Teresa Kok, National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua, Deputy National Publicity Secretary Teo Nie Ching,  PKR National Vice Chairmen Nurul Izzah, Chua Tian Chang and Rafizi Ramli,  Parti Amanah Negara President Mohamad Sabu, and even the DAP mascot designer Ooi Leng Hah.

DAP is the first political party to espouse the cause of full restoration of Sarawak and Sabah autonomy rights, but the denial of Opposition leaders and Members of Parliament entry into Sarawak for legitimate political activities is unconstitutional and undemocratic.

In 1974, I was denied entry into Sarawak and I raised my strong objection in Parliament. But 42 years later in 2016, we have gone back to such undemocratic practices and abuses of power – a salutary reminder of the need to ensure healthy checks-and-balance if democracy is not to go off the rails, not only on matters of autonomy but a whole range of other policy areas as well.

All these abuses of power stem from one fear  – the fear of losing power.

How can one claim to be a democrat when one is afraid of losing power and is prepared to resort to all sorts of undemocratic and illegal means to remain in power at all costs?

This is why Sarawak and Malaysia have yet to develop to become a normal democracy, where the voters can change political parties in government without it being presented as national catastrophe but accepted as a normal democratic process.

The marvel in the case of Sarawak is Adenan Satem is not  facing the prospect of losing   power, as he will be returned as the Sarawak Chief Ministerin  the 11th Sarawak state elections with the dissolution of the Sarawak State Assembly tomorrow.

The only question to be decided in the Sarawak state polls is whether Adenan will be able to win with a two-thirds majority. If this is already causing him to abuse his powers as Chief Minister. I wonder what he would do if he faces the prospects of losing the Sarawak Chief Ministership in a state election?

In the last general election, I moved from  the safe seat of Ipoh Timor parliamentary constituency to the risky Gelang Patah seat and many people supporters questioned the wisdom of the move as they feared that I might be defeated.

If we believe in democratic politics, we must not be afraid to lose. Unless we use democracy to hide authoritarian tendencies, we must not abuse powers just to stay in power – as what Adenan Satem is doing in abusing his powers by banning Pakatan Harapan MPs and leaders from entering Sarawak to campaign for the Sarawak state general elections.

If Adenan is so afraid of democracy, why is he holding elections?

I hope Adenan will remove his blanket ban on Pakatan Harapan MPs and leaders from entering Sarawak for legitimate political parties in campaigning in the Sarawak state elections – unless he can make out a case that the persons being banned are religious bigots, extremists or troublemakers.

[Speech (2) at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah in his visit to 101st parliamentary constituency in  Kepala Batas  on  Sunday 10th  April 2018 at 9 am]

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016, 8:58 am and is filed under
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Malaysia Parliament Group Slams State Fund Board for 1MDB Scandal

by  Reuters

Fortune

APRIL 7, 2016

But it stopped short of implicating Prime Minister Najib Razak.

A Malaysian parliamentary inquiry on Thursday slammed the board of state fund 1MDB for being irresponsible and urged a probe into its former chief, but stopped short of implicating Prime Minister Najib Razak who was an advisor for the troubled firm.

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said senior management at 1Malaysia Development Bhd withheld crucial information from the board and made transactions without its knowledge or approval.

The bipartisan PAC is the first Malaysian entity to level allegations against 1MDB, which is at the center of corruption and money-laundering investigations in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg.

U.S. Department of Justice officials have asked Deutsche Bank  and JP Morgan Chase  to provide details on their dealings with 1MDB, as the global investigation into 1MDB widens. Goldman Sachs’   relation with 1MDB is also under review.

The 1MDB fund, which had piled up over 42 billion ringgit ($11 billion) in debt since its inception in 2009, said its board of directors have collectively offered their resignations after the report.

IMDB Board Resigns

The parliamentary report said former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi has to take responsibility.

“As such, enforcement agencies are asked to investigate Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and anyone else related,” the report said.

The executive board of the fund offered their resignations after the report was released.

It called for the advisory board of the fund — chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak — to be abolished and any reference to the prime minister be changed to finance minister in the company’s memorandum and articles of association.

Najib, who founded 1MDB in 2009, was not otherwise named in the report. Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He said the report showed that former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamed’s allegations against him were false.

Mahathir quit the ruling party in February and has stood with the opposition in calling for Najib to resign over the 1MDB scandal.

The scandal has fueled a sense of crisis in a country under economic strain from slumping oil prices and a prolonged slide in its currency last year.

Overseas Bank Statements

Shortly after it was released, opposition leader Tony Pua, who was part of the PAC, told a news conference that Najib, should at least be held culpable for the mismanagement at the fund.

“Anything else we don’t know, as we don’t have the overseas bank statements of 1MDB,” said Pua, an MP with the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Pua lamented the failure to get crucial information on 1MDB’s foreign banking transactions. The report did scrutinize several overseas transactions that it said were made without 1MDB board approval.

One was a $700 million transfer to an account belonging to a company named Good Star Ltd. Another unapproved transaction of $300 million was made to 1MDB PetroSaudi Ltd, a joint venture company set up in the British Virgin Islands.

The report also said billions of dollars in unexplained payments were paid to a company called “Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar Ltd)” in 2012 without board approval.

The report said 1MDB has not clarified whether Aabar Ltd was a subsidiary or linked to an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund called Aabar Investments or another Abu Dhabi fund called International Petroleum Investment Corp (IPIC).

The Wall street journal, citing documents from international probes, reported that investigators believe around $1 billion moved through state agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before eventually finding its way into Najib’s personal accounts.

The 1MDB fund has denied that any of its funds went to the prime minister. The Attorney-General cleared Najib in January of any corruption or criminal offenses, saying the $681 million was a gift from a member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family and that most of it was returned.

The scandal has rocked Najib’s government as public outrage over the alleged mismanagement and corruption grows.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016, 2:42 pm and is filed under
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Tony Pua was over-generous to give 80 marks to PAC Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks

DAP MP for PJ Utara Tony Pua is over-generous to give 80 marks to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks.

1MDB was so vexed by Tony’s remark that he was 80 per cent satisfied with the PAC Report that it lost it sense of rationality and propriety and hit out with a media statement entitled: ‘You can’t be 80% pregnant, Pua”.

Among the most incisive  of the mountain of adverse comments to 1MDB’s “80% pregnant” statement was the one which said that the “rhetoric coming from a very ‘professional’ company shows its childishness and makes you wonder how such people can be entrusted to run multi-billion company”!

There are many reasons why I would give the PAC Report on 1MDB at most 60 marks.

Firstly, for giving the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers and UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists the opportunity to distort its findings by claiming  that the PAC Report on 1MDB had exonerated the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of wrongdoings and abuses of power in the first global scandal in the nation’s history.

The latest person to distort the finding of the PAC Report on 1MDB is none other than the UMNO Secretary-General and Federal Territories Minister, Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who said yesterday that the PAC Report proved that Najib had been the victim of various slanders for the past two years.

He even said that the PAC Vice Chairman, Dr. Tan Seng Giaw, who is also  DAP MP for Kepong, had “admitted” that the Prime Minister was not involved at all in what had transpired in the 1MDB.

Tengku Adnan is trying to put words into Seng Giaw’s mouth, for Seng Giaw told me that he never said that Najib was not involved in any wrongdoing in 1MDB.

As Seng Giaw repeated in Malaysiakini yesterday, he did not defend Najib or cleared him of any wrongdoing, as what he said was that the PAC report did not directly involved Najib as responsible for the 1MDB scandal.

Secondly, for failing to summon important witnesses to the PAC for its inquiry into 1MDB, in particular business tycoon Low Taek Jho although the PAC under former Chairman Datuk  Nur Jazlan Mohamad had decided on July 24 last year that Low Taek Jho should appear before it on Sept. 8 to testify on the 1MDB scandal.

Furthermore, Hasan’s PAC has also no interest in summoning the Prime Minister to testify before the PAC, although Nur Jazlan had said on record that he would summon the Prime Minister as witness before the PAC “if necessary”.

Other important key witnesses who were not summoned to appear before the PAC, rendering the PAC Report on 1MDB faulty and most flawed include the former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the Chief Commissioner for MACC, Tan Sri Abu Kassim, the MACC director (special operations) Bahri Mohamed Zin, the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and the former Special Branch deputy director Datuk Abdul Hamid Bador.

Thirdly, the PAC Report on 1MDB evaded the “elephant” in the room and focused on secondary and even tertiary issues and questions.

For instance, the PAC Report states that the management structure of 1MDB is divided into three  tiers, the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and Top Management.

This is both incorrect and misleading.

As the Treasury secretary-general Irawan Serigar Mohamad told the PAC on 19th May 2015, the 1MDB’s Board of Advisers had never held a single meeting although the 1MDB Advisory Board, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, contains “big names” like the  Chief Secretary to Government, Treasury Secretary-General, Vice Chairman of Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Petronas Chairman.

In fact, the role of the Ministry of Finance over the affairs of its subsidiary 1MDB was  so pathetic that Irwan admitted to  the PAC on 19th May 2015 that it was  sidelined and did not know about 1MDB operations at all, and only “read (about) it all in the newspapers”.

However, by virtue of Article 117 of the 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association (M & A), which requires all major decisions of  the company involving financial commitment (including investment) and  restructuring to have the written authorization from the Prime Minister, it is the Prime Minister who is the most important player in 1MDB, exceeding the role of the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and the Top Management all added together.

There are in fact four tiers of management authority in 1MDB, namely the Prime Minister by virtue of Article 117 of 1MDB M&A, , the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and the Top Management, with the Prime Minister in overall direct control of 1MDB – and not just three tiers as stated by the PAC.

Arising from Article 117, the person who must bear the greatest responsibility for 1MDB must be the Prime Minister, who exercises direct control over 1MDB as all important investment and restructuring decisions of 1MDB requires his written authorization.

The PAC has recommended that the 1MDB former chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and others in the management should be held responsible for the weaknesses in the administration of the state-owned fund.

Shahrol and others in the 1MDB management are not without responsibility for the 1MDB becoming a global scandal for Malaysia, but  it is totally against all sense of fair play and justice to make Shahrol and others in the 1MDB management solely responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal when it is evident from Article 117 that Shahrol and others in the management could only be scapegoats when greater forces were at work causing the global scandal.

If Shahrol is so guilty of everything that had gone wrong in 1MDB, why was he not only CEO of 1MDB in the company’s early years, but remain a member of the 1MDB Board of Directors from its inception in 2009 until now?

Why is the PAC Report just urging the enforcement agency to probe Shahrol and other management and not to go further back in authority, especially in the light of  Article 117 of the 1MDB M & A?

I have invited the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin to a public forum next Wednesday on  “Has the PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?” if he insists that the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerates Najib from any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

There are two issues here.

The first question is whether Hasan still insists that the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerates Najib from any wrongdoing or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, when the PAC Report has done nothing of this nature.

The second question is whether he dares to accept the invitation to a public forum, which will be held in Shah Alam, if he insists that the PAC Report had exonerated Najib from any  wrongdoing or abuse of power in the 1MDB scandal.

The ball is in Hasan’s court.

(Speech at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah in his visit to 101st parliamentary constituency in  Kepala Batas  on  Sunday 10th  April 2018 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016, 7:40 am and is filed under
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Why have I suddenly become an “undesirable character” to be banned from Sarawak after campaigning in seven parliamentary and nine state general elections in Sarawak in the last 38 years?

It was reported yesterday that the Sarawak Chief Minister is mulling over the banning of DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, myself as well as Parliamentary Opposition Leader and PKR President Datuk Seri Azizah Wan Ismail, from entering Sarawak for campaigning in the 11th Sarawak State Elections.

Why have I suddenly become an “undesirable character” to be banned from Sarawak after campaigning in seven parliamentary and nine state general elections in Sarawak in the last 38 years, going back to the late seventies?

In fact, what could be the honest and honourable reason for banning the long list of Members of Parliament from entry into Sarawak, including DAP National Vice Chairman Teresa Kok, National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua, Deputy National Publicity Secretary Teo Nie Ching,  PKR National Vice Chairmen Nurul Izzah, Chua Tian Chang and Rafizi Ramli,  Parti Amanah Negara President Mohamad Sabu, and even the DAP mascot designer Ooi Leng Hah, except for a gross abuse of power as the law is very clear that no one should be barred from entry into Sabah for legitimate political activities – although Sarawak state government enjoys full autonomy on immigration matters.

Sarawakians and Malaysians hope to see Sarawak as the vanguard for full and genuine democracy in Malaysia, and not the other way round, where democracy is given a fatal blow by gross abuses and excesses of power.

The Sarawak State Assembly will be dissolved tomorrow to pave the way for the holding of the 11th Sarawak state general elections.

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem has no problem of being returned as Sarawak Chief Minister, and the only question is whether Adenan will win the 11th Sarawak general election with a two-thirds majority or not.

For the DAP, we have two challenges: firstly, whether we can retain the 12 seats we had won in the 2011 state election and secondly, whether we can make a breakthrough and win a few seats in the Dayak areas.

These are no threats to Adenan’s re-election as Sarawak Chief Minister, although they may constitute life-and-death battles for some parties like the SUPP.

Is Adenan therefore banning DAP and PKR leaders and MPs to save or at the request of parties like SUPP for their own political survival, regardless of how undemocratic and blatant the  gross abuses of power?

It is indeed sad if a once-great political party like SUPP has now to survive by the most undemocratic means, as getting DAP and PKR leaders and MPs banned from campaigning in the Sarawak state general elections  – but they may be grossly mistaken if they think this is their recipe and elixir to prolong their political life.

I still hope that Adenan’s democratic instincts will prevail as I still have the greatest respect for Adenan since he became the Sarawak Chief Minister.

Together with the dissolution of the Sarawak state assembly tomorrow, I hope he will revoke the blanket ban on DAP, PKR and Amanah leaders and MPs from their legitimate political activities as guaranteed by law to campaign in the 11th Sarawak state general election.

Let’s have a clean and honest campaign in the Sarawak state general election and not allow abuses and excesses to mar the Sarawak election campaign, as we owe it to Sarawak and Malaysia to ensure that the fragile plant of democracy is nurtured to grow and flourish in our land.

[Speech (2) at the DAP “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” kopitiam ceramah in visit to 102nd parliamentary constituency Tasek Gulogor at Sungei Dua   on  Sunday 10th  April 2018 at 1pm]

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 10 April 2016, 7:18 pm and is filed under
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Both Adenan and I are septuagenarians who do not have many active political years left – let us do something worthwhile as promoting democracy, national unity  and Sarawakian rights of autonomy  instead of abuses of power to prop up a political party past its shelf life

Both Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem and I are septuagenarians.

Adenan is 72 and I am 75.  We do not have many active political years left.

Let us do something worthwhile in the evening of our life, as promoting democracy, national unity and Sarawakian rights of autonomy instead of abuses of power to prop up a political party past its shelf life.

Forty-two years ago, in Parliament during the debate on the Royal Address on Nov. 9, 1974, I said:

“On 16th Sept, (yes, on Malaysia Day), Sarawak took another step, closer towards Sabah.  When I arrived at the Kuching Airport that morning to visit Sarawak and meet SNAP leaders, the Chief Minister invoked State immigration powers and prohibited me from entry into Sarawak. Sabah and Sarawak were given autonomy on immigration to protect youths of East Malaysia from being swamped and displaced by hordes of West Malaysian unemployed, but now these powers have been abused and perverted to restrict free travel by Malaysians within their own country.

“Mankind have dismantled the ‘Iron Curtain’, the ‘Bamboo Curtain’, but we in Malaysia, are erecting the ‘Batik Curtain’ to separate Malaysians from Malaysians! We are coming to a stage where it will be easier for Opposition political leaders to visit Peking or Moscow than to visit Kota Kinabalu or Kuching!

“The Sarawak Chief Minister’s abuse of state immigration powers makes a mockery of His Majesty’s fond hope of the fostering  closer relationship between those who live in Peninsular Malaysia with those in the States of Sabah and Sarawak as contained in Paragraph 14 of the Royal Address.”

I asked in Parliament 42 years ago how the objective of fostering a closer integration of the peoples and states of Malaysia – the objective of Rukunegara and Five Year Plans –could be achieved if elected Members of Parliament from West Malaysia were barred from entering Sarawak and Sabah, “while tourists, foreigners and even professional fortune hunters can enter Sabah and Sarawak without a visa for two weeks without questions asked”.

Calling for the dismantling of the “Batik Curtain” and a stop to the “misuse and abuse” of immigrations powers by the Chief Ministers of Sarawak and Sabah at the time, I warned of the adverse consequences of such abuses of power – the failure to achieve the Rukunegara objectives of “national unity” and “a democratic way of life”.

It is really sad that four decades, instead of forging ahead into a new progressive future, we are harking back to an undemocratic past.

It is not necessary for me to remind Adenan of Section 67 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 which stipulates that while Sarawak is conferred autonomy in immigration powers, the “right to enter East Malaysian states for exercise of political rights” where “a citizen entering the East Malaysian state for the sole purpose of engaging in legitimate political activity” is guaranteed and  should not be obstructed.

I remember reading a media interview where Adenan spoke of his “close shave with death” due to a heart ailment three years ago and how he was “ready to go”.

He said God had given him a new lease of life to “do what I have to do”.

As I said, both of us do not have many active political years left. Let us focus on the big issues of right and wrong, promoting democracy and national unity, improving the welfare of all Sarawakians and Malaysians and  articulating Sarawakian rights on autonomy instead of being bogged down by mundane, petty and momentary issues.

Imposing a blanket ban on DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders and MPs from entrty into Sarawak to campaign in the 11th Sarawak state general elections cannot be right, democratic or in the interest promoting national unity.

I believe  Adenan is basically a decent leader and I hope he will immediately revoke the blanket ban on DAP and Pakatan Harapan leaders and MPs from campaigning in Sarawak for  the 11th Sarawak state general election.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 11 April 2016, 8:57 am and is filed under
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Jho Low is also welcome to attend and answer all charges against him at the Wednesday forum in Shah Alam on “Has the  PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”

I fully agree with the  statement by human rights group Proham that allegations of criminal breach of trust surrounding state-owned fund 1MDB is not the sole responsibility of its former chief executive officer.

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on 1MDB, Proham chairperson Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari and secretary-general Denison Jayasooria in a joint statement expressed shock over the disclosure of weak governance structure and monitoring instituted for such huge sums of public funds.

They said: “We express deep concern over the failure of the board of directors, the advisory council and the Finance Ministry to institute adequate checks and balances.

“We are not in agreement that the criminal breach of trust lies solely on the CEO of 1MDB and therefore the speedy release of the auditor-general’s report is imperative.”

The 106-page Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB, released in the Dewan Rakyat on April 7 had, among others, urged authorities to probe 1MDB former chief executive officer Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and others in the management.

Shahrol Azral, however, had stressed that there was no wrongdoing or illegal activity at the company under his watch.

The PAC, in its 1MDB Governance Management Control Report said Shahrol Azral must take responsibility for the government-owned strategic investment company’s weaknesses and shortcomings.

It is impossible that Shahrol was solely responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal as Shahrol was 1MDB director for the past  seven year since the inception of 1MDB and even when it was Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), apart from being the Chief Executive Officer for four years from 2009 to 2013.

On the Internet, Shahrol’s c.v. refers to him as “an expert in value creation in multiple sectors”, and although Shahrol has proved to be a great disaster in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, I am strongly convinced that he is unfairly blamed by the PAC Report as the worst culprit in the 1MDB  scandal.

This is why I am extending to Shahrol an open invitation to the Wednesday forum in Shah Alam on “Has the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”, where he would have the opportunity to ask the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin in a face-to-face encounter whether he (Shahrol) was indeed the worst and  major culprit in the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

In fact, the so-far mysterious Penang billionaire who was the mover-and-shaker of the 1MDB venture, Jho Low, is also welcome to attend and answer all charges against him at the Wednesday forum in Shah Alam on “Has the  PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”

There are many questions Jho Low has to answer for about the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, not least of which is about the transfer of US$700 million to Good Star Limited in 2009  (Wall Street Journal has claimed that Good Star Limited is a company controlled by Jho Low)  as the 1MDB Board of Directors had never approved such a transfer.

In its 1MDB report, the PAC said on Sept 30, 2009, Bank Negara had approved for the transfer of US$1 billion into the 1MDB-PetroSaudi (PSI) joint venture account.

On the same day, US$300 million was transferred into the JV accounts in JP Morgan (Suisse) SA.

“However, the remaining US$700 million was transferred to an account in RBS Coutts Bank Ltd belonging to a different company not related to the joint venture.

“Based on documents furnished by (former 1MDB CEO) Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi on June 5, 2015, and his statement during the PAC hearing on Nov 25, the account belongs to Good Star Limited, which is a subsidiary of the PetroSaudi group since Sept 1, 2009.

“Checks by the PAC found that there was no approval by the 1MDB board of directors for the transfer of funds into two separate accounts.”

The mysterious and unauthorised payment of US$700 million from 1MDB to Good Star Limited on Sept. 30, 2009 led to the protest and resignation of Felda Holdings managing director Bakke Mohd Salleh from the 1MDB Board of Directors on Oct. 19, 2009 –  the only honourable, honest and decent act to have emerged from the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal so far.

The Shah Alam forum on Wednesday would be a great opportunity for Jho Low to clear such controversies.

With  Hasan Arifin, Shahrol and possibly Jho Low, apart from DAP PAC member Tony Pua and myself, participating in the Shah Alam forum on Wednesday on “Has the  PAC Report on 1MDP exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”, what could be the  excuse for  the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak to refuse to  televise live the forum through the slot of RTM programme called “Democracy”?

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Mahathir among the speakers at Shah Alam forum on “PAC 1MDB Report: Najib – Complicit or Innocent?” on Thursday

The latest report that Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) had informed the London Stock Exchange that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm named in  a report into the troubles of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal should have  blown to smithereens the mirage that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on the 1MDB scandal is  the be-all and end-all of the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

The London development today is the latest proof that the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal is only the “tip of an iceberg” and that the PAC Report on the 1MDB scandal is the first important step to open up the intricacies, complexities and enormities of the 1MDB scandal and not the final and definitive word to bring closure to the 1MDB scandal.

I had said earlier that I fully agree with the  statement by human rights group Proham that allegations of criminal breach of trust surrounding state-owned fund 1MDB is not the sole responsibility of its former chief executive officer.

The PAC, in its 1MDB Governance Management Control Report said that former IMDB CEO Shahrol Azral must take responsibility for the government-owned strategic investment company’s weaknesses and shortcomings.

It is impossible that Shahrol was solely responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal although  Shahrol was 1MDB director for the past  seven year since the inception of 1MDB and even when it was Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), apart from being the Chief Executive Officer of 1MDB for four years from 2009 to 2013.

On the Internet, Shahrol’s c.v. refers to him as “an expert in value creation in multiple sectors”, and although Shahrol has proved to be a great disaster in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, I am strongly convinced that he is unfairly blamed by the PAC Report as the worst culprit in the 1MDB  scandal.

The only redeeming feature of the sordid and seedy RM50 billion 1MDB scandal in the past seven years was the honest and honourable  protest and resignation of  Tan Sri Bakke Mohd Salleh from the 1MDB Board of Directors on Oct. 19, 2009 when he found a lot of hanky-panky in the 1MDB affairs.

I have invited the PAC Chairman Datuk Hasan Arifin to a public forum on Shah Alam to convince the public that the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak from wrongdoings or abuse of power in the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

Regardless of whether Hasan Arifin;  Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi who is being made a scapegoat for the 1MDB global scandal; or even Jho Low, the mysterious Penang-born billionaire who is alleged to be the mastermind of the 1MDB “adventure”, are implicated in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, the fact remains that the PAC 1MDB report has stirred an even greater hornet’s nest about the 1MDB scandal.

Who must bear final and full responsibility for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal – the IMDB top management, the 1MDB Board of Governors, the 1MDB Board of Advisers or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, by virtue of Section 117 of the 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association (M & A) which made Najib the sole person  responsible for the 1MDB scandal?

Regardless of whether the PAC Chairman, Hasan Arifin, would come or not, the   public forum in Shah Alam on “PAC 1MDB Report: Najib Complicit or Innocent?” will be held at the IDCC Shah Alam on Thursday, 14th April 2016 at 8.30 pm and among the speakers will be Tun Dr. Mahathir, Lim Kit Siang, Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli, Khalid Samad and Cynthia Gabriel.

If Hasan Arifin, Shahrol Azral or even Jho Low are prepared to appear at the Shah Alam forum on Thursday, they are most welcome.

(Speech at a Federal Territory DAP meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, April 11, 2016 at 8 pm)

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Malaysia Seeks Closure for 1MDB Scandal as Report Blames Ex-CEO

by Shamim Adam & Pooi Koon Chong

Bloomberg

April 7, 2016

Malaysian lawmakers sought to draw a line under the corruption allegations surrounding state investment company 1MDB, pinning the blame for financial lapses on its former chief executive and absolving his political bosses of responsibility for a scandal that’s roiled markets and sparked worldwide graft probes.

A bipartisan parliament committee identified at least $4.2 billion of unauthorized or unverified transactions at 1Malaysia Development Bhd., in a report published on Thursday. It recommended that former CEO Shahrol Halmi and other managers should be investigated, and a group of advisers headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak — who wasn’t otherwise mentioned in the 106-page document — be disbanded. The board of directors offered to resign.

Malaysia wants to shut down a scandal that has rocked the Southeast Asian country for more than a year, weakening its bonds and currency and threatening Najib’s grasp on power. Political instability came hand-in-hand with an economic squeeze, as the oil-price slump eroded revenue for the region’s only net crude exporter.

Silencing the speculation around 1MDB may no longer be entirely in Malaysia’s hands. Authorities from the U.S. to Switzerland are trying to piece together evidence to determine if some of the billions of dollars that the state company raised were siphoned out of its coffers and into the personal accounts of politically-connected individuals.

Bonds Recover

Still, there are signs that the crisis is easing. 1MDB, set up in 2009 to build infrastructure with borrowed funds, says it’s sold enough assets to repay all its short-term debt — about $1.5 billion — in the coming weeks, and still have cash to spare. The company’s bonds, which yielded almost 10 percent in October as graft allegations intensified, are now trading at about 5.6 percent.

1MDB amassed more than 50 billion ringgit ($12.8 billion) of debt over six years, using some of it to purchase energy assets, including joint ventures with companies in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

Those transactions were among the irregularities identified in the parliament report. It said that as part of 1MDB’s joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd., $700 million was transferred to an account at RBS Coutts Bank Ltd. held by a company that had nothing to do with the project. A $2.1 billion payment to Aabar Investments PJS in Abu Dhabi hasn’t yet been verified, while another $1.37 billion was sent to the Gulf company without the approval of 1MDB’s board, the lawmakers’ report said.

Shahrol, who was CEO for most of 1MDB’s lifetime and remained a director after leaving the post in 2013, said he’s “done no wrong” and has “nothing to hide.” Najib and 1MDB have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which owns Coutts, declined to comment. Aabar didn’t immediately respond to a query.

‘The Scapegoating’

The committee had a broader criticism of 1MDB’s business model too, saying it “depended on debt which placed a heavy burden on the company and wasn’t sustainable as it didn’t have enough income to pay for its borrowings and cost of operations.” It said management sometimes disregarded instructions from the board or acted without getting approval, and Shahrol “must take responsibility for the weaknesses and constraints.”

The singling-out of Shahrol by lawmakers was a surprise, according to Oh Ei Sun, an analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, and Najib’s political secretary from 2009 to 2011.

Oh said he had “guessed that a scapegoat would be rolled out” at some point, but hadn’t expected that the parliament committee, “which has opposition members, would do the scapegoating.”

‘Lessons Are Learned’

Najib said the report had “identified weaknesses in 1MDB’s capital structure and management.”

“We will study and act on the report’s recommendations,” the premier said. “We must ensure that lessons are learned, and action will be taken if any evidence of wrongdoing is found.”

The hunt for such evidence is under way outside Malaysia, too.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and Wells Fargo & Co. have been asked by U.S. authorities to retain and turn over records that may be related to improper transfers from 1MDB, according to people familiar with the matter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which underwrote $6.5 billion in bond deals for 1MDB, is cooperating with Justice Department efforts to gather information, people familiar with the matter have said. There has been no indication that the banks are accused by authorities of wrongdoing.

Swiss prosecutors investigating 1MDB said in January that about $4 billion may have been misappropriated, with some funds transferred to Swiss accounts of former Malaysian officials. Najib isn’t among the officials in question.

Najib’s government has called the accusations about 1MDB politically motivated. They’re not the only set of financial allegations dogging the premier.

One of his predecessors and political rivals, Mahathir Mohamad, has called on Najib to quit over $681 million that appeared in his accounts before the last election in 2013, which the prime minister said was a political donation from the Saudi royal family.

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1MDB Hearing Spells More Trouble for Najib

by Shamim Adam

Bloomberg

April 12, 2016

Transcripts from a Malaysian parliamentary hearing into a troubled state fund highlight Prime Minister Najib Razak’s involvement in decisions on questionable transactions that bypassed the board of directors and finance ministry.

The documents from the committee’s probe of 1Malaysia Development Bhd. are a blow to Najib’s efforts to halt months of political attacks and to draw a line under allegations of irregularities surrounding the fund.

Released by the Public Accounts Committee, the transcripts showed 1MDB and government officials when quizzed made multiple references to Article 117 of 1MDB’s constitution which states all matters need authorization from the premier. That’s even as the probe blamed financial and reporting lapses on a former chief executive.

The scandal has heightened political tensions and sparked worldwide graft probes, although Najib has retained the support of the bulk of senior officials in the ruling coalition.

The bipartisan committee in its separate 106-page report identified at least $4.2 billion of unauthorized or unverified transactions and recommended former CEO Shahrol Halmi and other managers be investigated. Shahrol, who said last week he hadn’t done anything wrong, told lawmakers in November that Najib had signed documents related to a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd. that has been under a cloud, according to the transcripts.

‘Shadow Director’

“The powers and influence of the prime minister in his capacity as chairman of the board of advisers must be examined to ascertain if he has acted in any way as a shadow director,” said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, head of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs. “Otherwise the investigation will be incomplete.”

Officials from the finance ministry, the sole shareholder of 1MDB, told the PAC they weren’t consulted on the fund’s investment decisions or finances, and there were contradictory statements on whether the fund’s advisory board headed by Najib ever met, the transcripts showed. The PAC recommended the board be dismantled.

The 500-plus pages of transcripts were made available on the parliamentary website following the release of the PAC report on Thursday. Najib and 1MDB have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. His office did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment on 1MDB’s transactions.

Amassed Debt

Attorney General Mohamed Apandi Ali, who was appointed by Najib in July, has dismissed requests at least twice by the central bank for criminal proceedings against 1MDB, concluding there was no misconduct. The fund amassed more than 50 billion ringgit ($12.8 billion) of debt over six years, using some of it to buy energy assets, including joint ventures with companies in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

Those transactions were among the irregularities identified in the parliamentary report. It said that as part of 1MDB’s joint venture with PetroSaudi, $700 million was transferred to an account at RBS Coutts Bank Ltd. held by a company that had nothing to do with the project. A $2.1 billion payment to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd. in Abu Dhabi hasn’t been verified, while another $1.37 billion was sent to the Gulf company without the approval of 1MDB’s board, the report said.

IPIC Denial

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Co. on Monday denied ownership of Aabar Investments PJS Ltd. and said it hadn’t received any payments from the entity which has an similar name to its unit. 1MDB responded to say it negotiated “various legal agreements” with the previous heads of IPIC and its unit and called it a “surprising claim” that neither of the Gulf companies knew of payments it made to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, which owns Coutts, declined to comment. PetroSaudi did not reply to an e-mail seeking comment.

“The PAC findings and report has been a step in the right direction but more questions have been raised which demand further probing and investigation especially as to how the funds were ultimately used,” said Akhbar Satar, president of Transparency International Malaysia. “Mismanagement is one thing, but the scale of this financial debacle suggests that this may not be all there is to it.”

Authorities from the U.S. to Switzerland are seeking to determine if some of the billions of dollars the state company raised were siphoned out of its coffers and into the personal accounts of politically-connected individuals.

Saudi Donation

Najib has separately faced allegations he received money from a company linked to 1MDB as well as criticism over a $681 million personal donation from the Saudi royal family in 2013. The attorney general cleared him of graft in January, a decision the anti-graft agency said it had been advised to review.

Some ministers in Najib’s government noted the PAC report exonerated the premier. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Azalina Othman said the allegations were proven “baseless, politically motivated and done with the intention to topple the prime minister in an undemocratic way.”

Still, opposition lawmaker Tony Pua, a PAC member, said there are unanswered questions about 1MDB. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who has led a public campaign to remove Najib, said nothing at the fund could have been done without Najib’s approval, the Malay Mail Online reported.

The PAC report may have attempted to “close the files on Najib legally but he’s much damaged politically,” said Fui K. Soong, a director at the Centre for Strategic Engagement in Kuala Lumpur. “This will continue to haunt the rest of the Najib administration for so long as he is in office.”

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Abu Dhabi Fund Says It Never Received Payments From Malaysia’s 1MDB

By TOM WRIGHT and  BRADLEY HOPE

Wall Street Journal

April 11, 2016

An Abu Dhabi state fund said publicly for the first time on Monday that it hadn’t received billions of dollars in payments that a controversial Malaysian fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak claims it sent.

The International Petroleum Investment Co., or IPIC, an Abu Dhabi government fund, said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange that it was aware of media reports that 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, had sent money to a company called “Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.”

IPIC said in the statement that it has a subsidiary called Aabar Investments PJS, but that the similarly named company “was not an entity within either corporate group.”

The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter and bank-transfer documents, earlier reported how the 1MDB fund sent $2.4 billion to the imitation Aabar, which was set up in the British Virgin Islands and later closed.

A report released last week by a Malaysian parliamentary committee inquiry into 1MDB, which is the subject of corruption probes in at least seven countries, put the amount transferred to the imitation Aabar at $3.5 billion.

About $681 million of this money later flowed via a circuitous route into the private account of Mr. Najib, the Malaysian prime minister, the Journal has also reported, citing people familiar with the investigations.

Mr. Najib has denied wrongdoing or taking money for personal gain.

Malaysia’s attorney general said the money that entered his account was a legal donation from Saudi Arabia’s royal family and that most of it was returned, and he cleared Mr. Najib of wrongdoing.

The 1MDB fund denies wrongdoing and says it never sent money to Mr. Najib’s accounts.

The Journal further reported how the imitation Aabar was set up by two executives of the genuine Aabar, Khadem Al Qubaisi, the fund’s former chairman, and Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, its former chief executive.

Both men were removed from their positions last year. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital, have frozen the assets of the men and banned them from leaving the country. Attempts to reach both men were unsuccessful and they haven’t commented previously.

The 1MDB fund initially rejected the Journal’s reporting on the imitation Aabar as a “campaign to malign 1MDB” and a sign the newspaper was “working hand in glove with certain political interests in Malaysia.”

But on Monday, it responded to IPIC’s statement by acknowledging that it sent “substantial sums” to the imitation Aabar in the British Virgin Islands. The fund said it made the payments “pursuant to various legal agreements” with Messrs. Al Qubaisi and Al Husseiny.

“It is, therefore, a surprising claim that neither IPIC nor Aabar have knowledge of, nor have benefited from, payments made by 1MDB to Aabar (British Virgin Islands),” the statement said.

The dispute between 1MDB and IPIC over the payments appears to complicate a debt-restructuring deal between the two parties that was supposed to be concluded this summer.

1MDB didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Under the terms of the deal, IPIC has taken over interest and principal payments on the $3.5 billion in 1MDB bonds that it guaranteed. IPIC also made a $1 billion payment to 1MDB last year to help the Malaysian fund meet a looming debt payment. In return, 1MDB has to transfer assets of the same value to IPIC by June.

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Mystery deepens over $3.5 billion Malaysia’s 1MDB sent to BVI entity

ABU DHABI/KUALA LUMPUR | BY STANLEY CARVALHO AND PRAVEEN MENON

Reuters

April 11, 2016

The mystery over who controlled a British Virgin Islands-registered company that received $3.5 billion from Malaysia’s scandal-tainted state fund 1MDB deepened on Monday when a company in the Middle East with an almost identical name said the BVI firm did not belong to it.

Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC), and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS said in a joint statement the BVI firm with an almost identical name, Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, “was not an entity within either corporate group.”

They had neither received any payments from the BVI company, which was wound up last June, nor assumed any liabilities on its behalf, the statement said.

A Malaysian parliamentary committee investigating 1MDB said in a report released on Thursday that the Malaysian sovereign fund sent a total of $3.5 billion to “Aabar BVI”.

What happened to the money after it went to the British Virgin Islands could not be determined, the report said.

The 1MDB fund is solely owned by the Ministry of Finance. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also finance minister, was authorized to sign off on the fund’s major transactions, according to the parliamentary report. Najib has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The 1MDB transfers to “Aabar BVI” included about $1.4 billion from a privately placed bond that Goldman Sachs (GS.N) raised in 2012. The 1MDB fund also made payments of $855 million, $993 million and $295 million as security deposits and other guarantees for the bond to the BVI firm, the report said.

In response to IPIC’s statement, 1MDB said it was surprised that neither IPIC nor Aabar had any knowledge of payments 1MDB made to Aabar BVI.

The IMDB fund says its records show documentary evidence of the ownership of Aabar BVI and of each payment made. The statement did not say what that ownership was.

It added that legal agreements were negotiated with Khadem Al Qubaisi in his capacity as managing director of IPIC and chairman of Aabar or with Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, who was CEO of Aabar.

The United Arab Emirates’ central bank has ordered a freeze on the assets of Khadem and Mohamed Badawy, banking sources told Reuters last week. The reason for the freeze was unclear.

CORRUPTION PROBE

Investigators in at least five nations, in addition to Malaysia, are scrutinizing various transactions connected with 1MDB in a wide-ranging money-laundering, fraud and corruption probe.

The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner in its probe linked to 1MDB. Leissner helped 1MDB arrange two bonds in May and October 2012, valued at $1.75 billion each, which are also the focus of an inquiry by Luxembourg prosecutors.

Goldman raised a total of $6.5 billion for 1MDB between 2012 and 2013. Goldman has declined comment. Leissner, who could not be reached for comment, has not been charged with any offense.

The Malaysian parliamentary report said 1MDB’s senior management withheld crucial information from its executive board and made transactions without its knowledge or approval, resulting in debts amounting to about $11 billion. The 1MDB board collectively offered to resign following the report.

Najib has been fending off allegations he was a beneficiary of 1MDB’s funds after about $681 million was deposited into his personal bank account just before a general election in 2013.

Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali said in January the transfer was a gift from Saudi Arabia’s royal family and that most of it was returned.

The 1MDB fund has denied any of its funds went to the prime minister. The parliamentary report did not name Najib or link any transaction from 1MDB to his private bank accounts.

Najib said the report showed the opposition’s allegations against him were false, but that “action will be taken if any evidence of wrongdoing is found”.

Opposition leader Tony Pua, who was part of the parliamentary probe, said “there was no way” the attorney general or the parliamentary inquiry could clear the prime minister of the allegations since billions of dollars that 1MDB sent overseas cannot be traced and investigations into them continue abroad.

(Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur. Editing by Bill Tarrant.)

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