The Trap of Our Mindset

M. Bakri Musa

www.bakrimusa.com

Related to the concept of a free mind is that of mindset, defined as one’s attitude to or philosophy of life. With all the established neural networks and stored memories in the brain, it forms a working hypothesis of what reality is. How the brain perceives new information is influenced by its existing working hypothesis, its pre-set narrative of reality.

            If the brain were to receive new information that would not conform to or diametrically contradict the brain’s preexisting narrative, then it (the brain) would use various ingenuous interpretations to make the new data conform to that pre-set pattern.

            A dramatic demonstration of this is the rare clinical condition called Cabgras delusion. Here the sufferer, through injury or stroke, has lost the capacity to recognize hitherto familiar faces including those of close family members. The patient would readily admit that the person facing him looks, speaks and even smells like his mother for example, but would adamantly refuse to admit that is who she is. Instead he is convinced that she is nothing more than a look-alike imposter, intent on swindling him for some nefarious ends, as with claiming insurance benefits. Imagine the mother’s heartbreak!

            During the heyday of Freudian psychoanalysis, psychiatrists had a great time invoking the Oedipus complex* as a defense mechanism to explain the dynamics of this malady. Those explanations may make for titillating reading but they do not in any way help the poor patient.

            The University of California, San Diego, neurologist Ramachandran studied these patients using modern clinical techniques and came up with a much more scientifically supportable explanation. In so doing he was also able to help his patients, the ultimate goal, while in the process greatly expanding our understanding of the brain.

            What happened to the patient was that when he saw his mother, he did not experience the usual associated warm feelings one typically expects on meeting one’s loved ones. Apparently the accident had interrupted the neural pathway between the patient’s eyes to his thalamus and hypothalamus – the seats of emotions. Thus while the brain recognized the images of his mother, those images did not trigger the usual associated warm emotions to corroborate the identity. To resolve this discordance, the brain (or its thinking or cortical part) ingeniously concocted a new “explanation,” and the only “logical” one would be to interpret the woman not as the familiar warm mother but a conniving impostor. That would neatly “explain” the lack of emotions.

            Fortunately for this particular patient, the neural pathway from his ears to the thalamus and hypothalamus was intact. So to treat the patient Ramachandran had the mother phone the patient from another room without being seen by him. He of course recognized the voice as coming from his mother, as the pathway from his ears to the thalamus was intact and with it, the associated warm emotional feelings were evoked on hearing her familiar voice. As he did not see her, there were no conflicting visual images to confuse his brain.

            Then gradually the mother would approach the patient while still talking with him on a mobile phone, finally making eye contact while still talking on the phone. Through repeating this process many times, the patient was able to bring back his pre-existing, familiar, warm emotions for his mother as he had now learned to integrate the voice with the visual images of the face. The plasticity of his brain enabled it to form new pathways from his eyes to the thalamus to bypass the previously damaged ones.

            The mind has a coherent picture of reality, and this picture in turn is created through our experiences and learning. If there are elements in the current reality that are jarring or do not fit that existing pattern, then the mind “re-edits” those elements so as to fit the pre-existing pattern.

            This composite and internally consistent hypothesis our brain has of reality is what’s meant by mindset. In so far as members of a particular group, race, or profession have the commonality of experiences and thus developed a common internally consistent hypothesis of reality, then they can be said to share the same mindset. Such is the difference between the Malay mindset and the colonial one.

            These established neural networks remain unchanged except through injuries or disease when those connections could be interfered with. Stated differently, we cannot change our mindset. What we can do is subject ourselves to new experiences and with that, learning opportunities, so our brain can form new pathways and establish new networks. When those new patterns prove to be more efficient or useful to us in interpreting reality, we would gradually replace the old, less efficient pathways.

            For that to happen we must first have the willingness if not eagerness to learn new things and be exposed to new experiences so our brain cells can forge those new networks and then slowly discard the old and less-useful ones. There is of course no guarantee that our mind would form new networks but merely simply reinterpret the new data and information to conform to our existing view of the world, as the patient with the Capgras delusion. The hope however, is that with sufficient new experiences and the opening of new neural channels and networks, our brain would use those new ones and then prune off the old and less used and less reliable patterns of the past. That was precisely the strategy used in treating the patient with the Capgras syndrome.

            Thus it is not so much as a new mindset rather that the old one that has been “improved” upon to such a degree as to be sufficiently different from the old one. Therefor it would be more fruitful to talk about a mindset that can grow (or improved upon) with new experiences instead of a new mindset.

Next:  “Fixed” Versus “Growth” Mindset

Adapted from the writer’s latest book, Liberating The Malay Mind, published by ZI Publications, Petaling Jaya, 2013.

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 12 April 2016, 7:10 am and is filed under
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Why the media scam of the century – creating the myth that the PAC Report on 1MDB marks the  closure of Malaysia’s first global scandal in nation’s history – collapsed after five short days

It was to be the media scam of the century – to create among Malaysians the myth that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on the 1MDB marks the closure of Malaysia’s first global scandal in the nation’s history.

But it collapsed within five short days – the coup de grace delivered in London when the Abu Dhabi-state owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) sent a statement to the London Stock Exchange that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to a British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm named in a report in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal – Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI).

It said: “Both IPIC and Aabar confirm that Aabar BVI was not an entity within either corporate group.

“Further,  both IPIC and Aabar confirm that neither has received any payments from Aabar BVI nor has IPIC or Aabar assumed any liabilities on behalf of Aabar BVI,” the statement added, noting that according to publicly available records, Aabar BVI was wound up and dissolved in June 2015.

Four days earlier, in the PAC Report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament, Malaysians were told that 1MDB had paid RM4.24 billion (about US$1.367 billion) to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar Ltd) as security deposits in 2012, without approval of 1MDB’s board of directors.

The  PAC, however, said 1MDB had not proven that Aabar Ltd is actually linked to Abu Dhabi firm Aabar Investment PJS, or the International Petroleum Investment Corp (IPIC) as 1MDB has yet to furnish confirmation that Aabar Ltd is a subsidiary of IPIC or Aabar Investment PJS.

The Wall Street Journal had previously alleged that 1MDB funds had been paid to Aabar Ltd, a British Virgin Islands firm which it claims is not linked to the real Aabar Investment PJS.

Quoting those familiar with the matter, WSJ said executives at IPIC and Aabar investigating the transfers concluded neither of the two Abu Dhabi funds ever owned or controlled the British Virgin Islands company.

Besides the US$1.367 billion, it was reported that 1MDB had paid another US$993 million to Aabar in 2014, to cancel options given to IPIC to buy a stake in its power plants.

The WSJ had reported that IPIC never received this US$2.4 billion, according to the company’s officials.

Now what the PAC had not been able to ascertain after a year’s investigation had been resolved by an IPIC statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday!

A day after the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB, the United Arab Emirates central bank told banks in the country to freeze the assets of two former senior officials in Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) group i.e. Khadem al-Qubaisi and Mohamed al-Husseiny.

Qubaisi  was one of the most prominent executives in the UAE until he was abruptly replaced as IPIC’s managing director in April last year. In subsequent months he stepped down as chairperson of IPIC’s unit Aabar Investments and from senior posts at several other firms in the region.

Husseiny was replaced as chief executive of Aabar last year after holding that post since 2010.

IPIC has close business links to Malaysia’s scandal-hit 1MDB, which is at the centre of corruption and money-laundering investigations in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg.

Last year, IPIC came to the aid of debt-laden 1MDB, agreeing to provide it with US$1 billion (about RM4 billion) in cash and to assume US$3.5 billion of 1MDB debt in exchange for some of the fund’s assets.

Responding to IPIC and Aabar’s statement to the London Stock Exchange yesterday, 1MDB stated that the substantial sums paid to Aabar BVI have been clearly recorded in the publicly available and audited 1MDB financial statements dated March 31, 2013 and March 31, 2014.

1MDB said it found  it curious that IPIC and Aabar have waited until April 2016 to issue such a statement.

With  IPIC and Aabar now denying  ownership of the entity named Aabar BVI, “the chickens have come home to roost” and Malaysian tax-paying public are likely to be  the “suckers” who will have to pick up the multi-billion-ringgit tab of such 1MDB escapades.

Will  the PAC now re-open investigations into the 1MDB scandal, as it is now as clear as daylight that the PAC Report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament last Thursday was a partial and incomplete investigation as many questions and areas remain unanswered and unexplored.

Another international event which took place in the five days after the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB which destroyed any pretence that it could mark the closure of the 1MDB scandal was  the scathing speech by chief executive officer of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma), Mark Branson at the Finma Annual Conference 2016 in Berne, Switzerland last Thursday.

Mark Branson described Malaysia’s 1MDB and Brazil Petrobras scandals as “clear cases of corruption” and prime examples of money laundering risks that Switzerland is facing.

Under such circumstances, how could the PAC Report on 1MDB mark the closure of the 1MDB scandal?

Even if these three international events had not taken place in the past five days, the myth that the PAC Report on 1MDB tabled last Thursday was the final definitive word to bring about the closure of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal would have been debunked, although it would have taken a bit more time.

Those who have taken the trouble to read the 106-page PAC Report would have discovered that the PAC Report only revealed the “tip of the iceberg” of the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, and that it is most unfair to make the former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral to be the sole “scapegoat” for the 1MDB scandal.

This is why Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) president Akhbar Satar has said that the  ‘ghost’ of 1MDB scandal  will never be laid to rest unless further investigations are carried out based on findings of the PAC report.

He said the PAC findings and report have 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.

I agree with Akhbar when he said: “Let the right, independent and professional people finish the job or the ghost of 1MDB will never be laid to rest.”

The  human rights group Proham  is spot-on when it said that allegations of criminal breach of trust surrounding 1MDB is not the sole responsibility of its former chief executive officer and called for the speedy release of the Auditor-General’s final audit of the 1MDB.

I am glad that former Cabinet Minister, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz has added her voice for the immediate release of the Auditor-General’s final audit report, and she cannot be more correct in saying that it is pointless to try to classify information in a borderless world –  “when others outside the country can so easily get any and all information… and that information can, and is, expeditiously transmitted globally” as illustrated by the Panama Papers exposures.

In the final analysis, the question is the one  posed by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) chief executive officer Wan Saiful Wan Jan: whether Prime Minister Najib had played the role of puppet-master in the 1MDB scandal.

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

This is because at least 40% of the first global scandal in the nation’s history has still to be disclosed.

Will PAC re-open and continue with its 1MDB investigations to unveil this hitherto hidden 40 per cent of the 1MDB scandal, or will  it have to be done by other agencies or personalities?

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 12 April 2016, 1:47 pm and is filed under
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Fixing the Finances of Malaysia’s State Fund: The Process So Far

Shamim Adam

Bloomberg

April 13, 2016

It’s been more than a year since state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd., at the center of multiple probes into its finances, announced plans to sell assets and pare debt. Its borrowings then ballooned to over 50 billion ringgit ($12.9 billion) as of January.

1MDB has said it won’t make new investments or undertake projects once it clears some existing deals. Set up by the government in 2009 to build infrastructure with borrowed money, it has drawn political criticism and almost failed to repay loans.

Global investigators are looking into possible money laundering and embezzlement at the company, whose advisory board is chaired by Prime Minister Najib Razak. Here’s a snapshot of where 1MDB is at in getting its finances in order:

Power Projects

1MDB faced cash flow problems in 2014 after a planned initial public offering of energy unit Edra Global Energy was delayed amid unfavorable market conditions. The plan was later canceled and the fund completed the sale of Edra to China General Nuclear Power Corp. for 9.83 billion ringgit in March.

In 2014, 1MDB won a bid with Japan’s Mitsui & Co. to build an 11 billion ringgit coal-fired power plant in Malaysia, known as Project 3B. It transferred the project to state producer Tenaga Nasional Bhd. in June as it lacked the capacity to take on a further 8 billion ringgit of debt.

Land Deal

The Tun Razak Exchange financial district, or TRX, is being built on 70 acres of land near the Petronas Twin Towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Named after Najib’s father, who was the country’s second prime minister, the development has a projected sales value of 40 billion ringgit.

So far, about 1 billion ringgit of land has been offloaded, including a controversial sale to Lembaga Tabung Haji, the national Hajj pilgrims fund. Najib ordered Tabung Haji to sell the plot just days after the purchase was disclosed, following protests and a public outcry on social media.

Bandar Malaysia

Bandar Malaysia is a 486-acre mixed-use project that will include a terminal for the proposed high-speed train to Singapore. It has a projected sales value of 150 billion ringgit.

1MDB has sold off 60 percent of the township to a consortium of China Railway Engineering Corp. and developer Iskandar Waterfront Holdings for 7.41 billion ringgit. China Railway in March announced a further $2 billion investment in Bandar Malaysia.

Debt, Accounts

In May 2015, Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. entered an agreement to provide 1MDB with $1 billion to settle some of its liabilities in exchange for a transfer of assets. IPIC said this week it isn’t linked to a company that received $3.5 billion of 1MDB funds, and it’s unclear if that development will affect the pact.

1MDB has been allowed to extend the submission of its audited accounts for the year ended March 2015 — due at the end of September last year — by 12 months.

The fund said in a statement Tuesday it had repaid all short-term debt and bank debt, leaving it with 2.3 billion ringgit in the bank. 1MDB will be a holding company with no operations once the rationalization process is over, President Arul Kanda said in an interview last month.

Financial Markets

Foreign investors pulled 30.6 billion ringgit from stocks and bonds in 2015 as the currency fell to a 17-year low, in part amid concerns about political risk related to Najib and 1MDB. This year, helped by a recovery in oil prices, the ringgit is Asia’s second-best performer with a 10.6 percent gain against the U.S. dollar. The currency last month appreciated beyond 4 a dollar for the first time since August and the cost to insure the nation’s debt has fallen from January, the peak for the year so far.

Investigations

Even as it winds down some operations, 1MDB’s legal troubles may not be over. There are probes reported in at least ten countries related to 1MDB, or on companies and individuals linked to it.

A bipartisan Malaysian parliamentary committee this month identified at least $4.2 billion of unauthorized or unverified transactions and recommended former chief executive officer Shahrol Halmi and other managers be investigated.

In January the Swiss Attorney General’s office said a probe of 1MDB revealed “serious indications” that about $4 billion may have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies. Singapore authorities said they had seized a “large number” of bank accounts in connection with 1MDB and possible money-laundering carried out in the island nation.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating if funds were embezzled from 1MDB, according to people familiar with the matter. 1MDB has consistently denied wrongdoing.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 8:11 am and is filed under
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Malaysia fund 1MDB’s payment to Abu Dhabi fund IPIC may have ended up in the movie business

Leslie Shaffer

CNBC.com

13th April 2016

The trail of breadcrumbs from a troubled Malaysian state investment fund took another twist Tuesday when Swiss authorities said some of the money ended up in the movie business.

On Monday, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, International Petroleum Investment Co. (IPIC), and its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS, said that they never received $3.5 billion in payments from troubled 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

The payments were related to a guarantee for a bond placed by Goldman Sachs.

Instead, the payments appear to have been sent to a nearly identically named firm registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Aabar Investments PJS Ltd.

Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General said on Tuesday that as part of its criminal investigation of suspected embezzlement from 1MDB, it was extending its probe to two former officials in charge of Abu Dhabi sovereign funds.

“The Swiss authorities have elements in hand allowing them to suspect that the amounts paid in connection with this guarantee were not returned to the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund that supported the commercial risk,” the Swiss statement said. “To the contrary, these funds would have benefited others, particularly two public officials concerned as well as a company related to the motion picture industry. A former 1MDB body, already indicted in the Swiss proceedings has also benefited from these amounts.”

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing global investigators, that much of the financing for the Leonardo DiCaprio movie “Wolf of Wall Street” originated from 1MDB. The investigators said that the movie’s $100 million budget came from a company called Red Granite Pictures, which is led by Riza Aziz, the step-son of Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak, the WSJ reported.

Additionally, the United Arab Emirates’ central bank has ordered a freeze on the assets of Khadem Al Qubaisi, formerly the managing director of IPIC, and former Aabar CEO Mohamed Badawy, banking sources told Reuters last week. The reason for the freeze was unclear, Reuters said.

Swiss authorities asked Singapore and Luxembourg for “mutual legal assistance” in the matter. In January, the Swiss authorities said in a statement that Malaysia had been asked for legal assistance over around $4 billion that may have been misappropriated from Malaysian state enterprises in four instances over 2009-2013.

On Monday, 1MDB said in a statement that it was surprised by IPIC’s statement denying ownership of Aabar BVI. 1MDB said its own records show “documentary evidence” of Aabar BVI’s ownership, but the Malaysian fund didn’t provide more detail beyond adding that the agreement was negotiated with Khadem and Badawy.

The 1MDB board is headed by Najib, who has been plagued by WSJ reports that as much as $700 million passed from 1MDB to his personal bank accounts. Najib has vociferously denied any wrongdoing.

In January, Malaysia’s Attorney-General cleared Najib of any corruption or criminal offences, saying that $681 million transferred into Najib’s personal bank account was not from 1MDB but was, in fact, a gift from a member of Saudi Arabia’s royal family.

The fund remains at the center of several international investigations into its financial dealings.

Red Granite Pictures did not immediately return an email sent outside office hours Tuesday requesting comment. The office of Malaysia’s prime minister didn’t respond to an email on Tuesday requesting comment.

On Wednesday afternoon, 1MDB said via email that it hadn’t been contacted by any foreign legal authorities on any matters related to the fund, but it added “we remain committed to fully cooperating with any lawful authority and investigation.”

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 7:17 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Says It May Be Victim of $3.5 Billion Fraud

Shamim Adam

Bloomberg

April 13, 2016

1Malaysia Development Bhd., the troubled Malaysian state fund that’s the subject of global investigations, said it could be a victim of fraud if payments of $3.5 billion intended for an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund never made it there.

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co. this week denied ownership of a company that received the funds known as Aabar Investments PJS Limited or Aabar BVI. Swiss authorities said on Tuesday they are investigating two former public officials from the United Arab Emirates, who handled Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds that guaranteed 1MDB bonds.

“Given the recent denial by IPIC and the announcement by the Office of the Attorney-General of Switzerland, indicating that 1MDB could be a victim of fraud, 1MDB is exploring all avenues open to us,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Authorities from the U.S. to Switzerland and Singapore are trying to determine if some of the billions of dollars that 1MDB raised were siphoned out inappropriately. 1MDB, whose advisory board is headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak, amassed more than 50 billion ringgit ($12.9 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.

Questionable Transactions

A report by a Malaysian parliamentary committee last week identified at least $4.2 billion of questionable transactions by 1MDB including those that involved the Abu Dhabi companies. The bipartisan group said it couldn’t verify a $2.1 billion payment to Aabar Investments PJS Ltd., while another $1.37 billion was sent to the company without the approval of 1MDB’s board.

IPIC has a unit that goes by the name of Aabar Investments PJS, without the Ltd. contained in the company that 1MDB transferred money to. 1MDB said it negotiated “various legal agreements” with the previous heads of IPIC and Aabar and called it a “surprising claim” that neither of the Gulf companies knew of payments to Aabar BVI.

“1MDB is confident of its legal position in relation to the $3.5 billion cash deposits paid to Aabar BVI,” the Malaysian fund said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 8:49 pm and is filed under
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Opposition MPs signing of an unsatisfactory PAC Report on 1MDB fully vindicated by the swift solution about the “rogue” character of the fake company Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal

One shock tactics UMNO/BN Ministers, leaders and cybertroopers like the Barisan Nasional Strategic Media Communications Director and Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had been hashing in the past few days was in the form of the question on the social media: “U guys bodoh!! Why sign the report when u r only 80% satisfied. BODOH!”

However, the Opposition MPs’ signing of the Parliament Accounts Committee (PAC) Report, although not thoroughly satisfied about its findings and conclusions, have been fully vindicated by the swift solution about the “rogue” character of fake company Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

The statement by the  Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) to  the London Stock Exchange on Monday  that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm Aabar Investments PJS Limited which was paid RM4.24 billion (about US$1.367 billion) by 1MDB as security deposit in 2012 would not have come about if the PAC Report on 1MDB had not been signed and tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

With the PAC Report, IPIC and Aabar, as public listed companies in the London Stock Exchange had to make a mandatory public announcement that they had no relations to Aabar BVI, and had not received the RM4.24 billion payment from 1MDB in 2012 – an issue which had been in the public domain in the past four months but not from authoritative or official sources like the Malaysian PAC Report and could therefore be ignored by IPIC, Aabar and 1MDB.

The signing of the PAC Report on the 1MDB, though not fully satisfactory,  has achieved the first fruits and I want congratulate the five Opposition PAC members for achieving this result within four days of the tabling of the PAC Report.

The PAC Report on the 1MDB is therefore the first step, not the last lap, in unveiling the intricacies and complexities of the first Malaysian global scandal with global dimensions – as illustrated by IPIC statement to the London Stock Exchange.

As clearly stated by the joint statement yesterday by the Opposition members on the PAC, PAC Deputy Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong),  Dato’ Kamarul Baharin Abas (Telok Kemang), William Leong (Selayang), Dato’ Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bahru) and Tony Pua (PJ Utara), the five Opposition PAC members rejected the stand of the PAC Chairman Datuk Hassan Arifin who said the PAC found no evidence of wrongdoing and that no money went missing from 1MDB.

I suggest that Hasan Arifin should convene an emergency meeting of the PAC so that Malaysian public can know whether it was Hasan or the five Opposition MPs on PAC who are  guilty of misrepresenting what the PAC had decided in its report on the 1MDB.

In their joint statement, the five Opposition PAC MPs stressed that the PAC Report showed that billions of ringgit have flowed out from 1MDB and were unaccounted for.

They said: “As such, we urged the PAC chairperson to retract his statements because they are baseless, misrepresent PAC’s views and are lies.

“We hope the PAC chairperson is not abusing his position as the head of a parliamentary committee for the BN and PM Najib Abdul Razak’s political interests.”

Hasan cannot keep his silence to the joint statement by the five Opposition PAC members, who must congratulated for signing the PAC Report so that Malaysian will see the “tip of the iceberg” of the 1MDB global scandal – as up to now, the powers-that-be had refused to admit that 1MDB represented any scandal at all, let alone a global scandal.

I had said that PAC member  Tony Pua was  over-generous to give 80 marks to the PAC Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks.

I believe that at least 40% of the first global scandal in the nation’s history has still to be disclosed, and the challenge to every patriotic Malaysian is to uncover the whole sordid tale of the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 2:26 pm and is filed under
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Swiss widen corruption investigation into Malaysia’s 1MDB fund

Guardian

Agence France-Presse

Wednesday 13 April 2016

The state-owned fund is linked to PM Najib Razak, with two suspects indicted over an alleged phony bond deal

Switzerland has widened its corruption probe into a Malaysian state-owned fund linked to prime minister Najib Razak, with two new suspects indicted over an alleged phony bond deal.

The Swiss attorney general’s office (OAG) said the new suspects – who are accused of fraud, bribery and other offences – are officials from the United Arab Emirates who were in charge of sovereign funds based in Abu Dhabi.

In a statement, the OAG said it had evidence that the management of the 1MDB fund violated Swiss embezzlement laws through a fraudulent bond agreement with the UAE officials, with money routed through Swiss banks.

Allegations that billions were looted from 1MDB in a vast campaign of fraud have shaken Najib’s government.

The scandal intensified last week when a Malaysian parliamentary committee clearly suggested misconduct had occurred, in the first condemnation from an official body in Kuala Lumpur.

Switzerland opened its own criminal probe into 1MDB last August, targeting two former Malaysian officials “and persons unknown” on suspicion of bribery, money laundering and other offences.

The OAG has said that up to $4bn of public funds in Malaysia may have been misappropriated, with a portion of the money transferred to Swiss accounts controlled by former Malaysian officials and people based in the UAE.

Concerning the latest allegations, Swiss authorities are scrutinising bonds issued by 1MDB subsidiaries officially intended to finance electric power plant projects in Malaysia.

The OAG statement said that sovereign funds based in Abu Dhabi issued guarantees on the bonds, but that evidence indicated 1MDB subsidiaries did not make proper payments in exchange for those guarantees.

“The Swiss authorities have elements in hand allowing them to suspect that the amounts paid in connection with this guarantee were not (paid) to the Abu Dhabi sovereign fund that supported the commercial risk,” the statement said.

“To the contrary, these funds would have benefited others, particularly two public officials concerned as well as a company related to the motion picture industry,” it added.

Swiss authorities provided no details on the film industry allegations, but The Wall Street Journal has reported that some of the money used to make Hollywood hit The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie about financial corruption starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was laundered from 1MDB.

Highlighting the broad scope of the IMDB scandal, Switzerland said it had asked both Luxembourg and Singapore for help with the investigation.

Singapore’s attorney general said it had received a request for help from its Swiss counterparts “for information and documents on certain fund flows flowing from (1MDB) and entities related to it”.

It added in a statement that “the request is receiving attention and (we) will render all possible assistance to the (Swiss prosecutors) expeditiously”.

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 13 April 2016, 7:43 pm and is filed under
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From Syria to Malaysia: Tentacles of Terror Are Spreading

Phill Hynes

Frontera News

11.4.2016

Despite having Asia’s second-largest Muslim population, Malaysia’s contribution to Islamic State has gone largely unnoticed. That may be about to change – with potentially dire implications for the country’s tourism-driven economy.

Recently Britain issued a very specific caution to its citizens: Avoid all but essential travel to the island resorts off Malaysia’s eastern Sabah province.

Then, three days later, Australia warned of potential terrorist attacks in and around Kuala Lumpur.

Faced with a direct financial hit on its all-important tourism industry, the local reaction was to downplay. “Malaysia is safe from any threats including terrorism,” said Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz. “There are no indications of an imminent attack on the capital”, assured Kuala Lumpur’s Police Chief Datuk Tajuddin Md Isa.

So what prompted two foreign governments to suddenly issue terrorism warnings in one of Southeast Asia’s most popular tourism destinations?

Tourism – The Lifeblood Of The Malaysian Economy

Over 27 million tourists visited the Malaysian archipelago in 2014, producing receipts of over 72 billion Malaysian ringgit (US$ 18.5 billion). The country’s embattled prime minister, Najib Razak, has pointed out that tourism is now one of Malaysia’s most important industries. One in every eight Malaysian citizens works within the tourism sector, which contributes over 15 percent of national GDP. In fact Malaysia has recently recorded more inbound tourists than Thailand, which carries a long-standing reputation as a popular holiday destination.

Generally, the world views the ASEAN region as predominantly safe and benign. Tourism in the region has grown at roughly 10 percent per year in the current decade. But the looming threat of Islamic terrorism now threatens to bring that trend to a halt. Malaysia, with its overwhelmingly moderate brand of Sunni Islam, has yet to experience any major terrorist assault. Yet the threat has been growing – from embryonic, to emergent, to definitive – within a very short space of time.

Theological Affinity

Terrorist training camps linked to Islamic State have been identified by Malaysia’s security services in regions including Port Dickson, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and Kuala Kangsar in Perak state since 2013. Local militants have reportedly received weapons along with Islamic State indoctrination. With a few days of training, graduates of these camps are then dispatched to Syria. Exports have included a Malaysian woman in her 30s. She travelled to Syria via Turkey, reportedly to participate in jihad al-nikah, or sexual comfort roles for the jihadists.

To set such activity in context, 2014 was at a time when the world at large was still blissfully ignorant of the existence of Islamic State. Al-Qaeda dominated the entire international terrorism news agenda. The capture of Fallujah and Mosul, the advances on Libya, the taped beheadings of westerners – these events were still up to a year away.

Yet in Malaysia, a training camp and channel to Syria had been formally established and was up and running. The camps highlight not only close operational collaboration, but theological affinity with Islamic State’s Salafist doctrine of a return to the original ways of Islam. This speaks volumes as to Islamic State’s intent for Malaysia and the wider region.

Given this connection, and the geographical distance between Malaysia and Syria, it’s likely that the process of sending vetted local jihadists to Syria was initiated by Malaysian recruiters.

Their decision will have been motivated by a longer-term strategic objective: to create a generation of jihadists with combat experience who could then be repatriated or redeployed to Malaysia to continue their jihad. These ‘returnees’ would spread the message and train local militants in battlefield-tested terrorist tactics – techniques and procedures gleaned from Islamic State.

Afghanistan Again

Such a strategy repeats the experience of the 1980s Afghan war, when jihadist groups throughout the Muslim world sent their fighters to gain combat experience that would later be recycled and applied in their respective homelands.

The particular “success” of Malaysia’s training camps has been to identify recruits so motivated and radicalised that they’re willing to give up their lives for the cause – introducing a singularly new and deadly security threat to the country: the suicide bomber.

The January 2016 arrest by Malaysian Police of a suspected suicide bomber in Kuala Lumpur signals that this transition has already begun. To date at least six confirmed Malaysians have participated in suicide attacks on behalf of Islamic State. Most of them, if not all, were graduates of these pre-deployment training camps. The advent of suicide attacks will mean increased security concern for the Malaysian state as these radicals return home.

Sympathisers with Islamic State’s cause probably number around 50,000, according to Malaysia Police. A Pew Research Poll last year put the total closer to 3 million, or 11% of the population.

Either figure would indicate a sufficient core for very meaningful support to Islamic State, and a continuous flow of willing recruits.

But the most worrying demographic identified within these statistics are radicalised individuals found to be serving in Malaysia’s armed forces and security services.

Several serving officers have been arrested since 2013 for moonlighting as active Islamic State cell members, while directly engaging in terrorist activities such as facilitating illegal entry to the country and providing safe houses to the jihadists.

As terrorist attacks in Pakistan demonstrate, infiltration of the armed forces by radicals endangers strategic assets – ports, airports and naval bases – and leaves potentially catastrophic weaknesses in any security measures or strategies relied upon to counter Islamic State activities.

Against this growing threat, the government has shown determination in dealing with Islamic State. The Prevention of Terrorism Act introduced last year allows lengthy detention of terror suspects without trial or judicial review. Intelligence sharing has been stepped up with Malaysia’s immediate neighbours. To date, the country’s security forces have successfully foiled attacks and arrested hundreds of suspected militants. But prevention of attacks does not equate to eradication of the threat of future incidents.

Islamic State has demonstrated its intention to carry out assaults throughout Southeast Asia with a series of bomb and gun blasts at a popular commercial and shopping area in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta in January, killing two and wounding at least 23. The recent attacks, which targeted Western hotels and restaurants, were the worst since the 2002 Bali bombings, in which over 200 people died.

Aside from the egregious loss of human life, it is worth pointing out that the economic impact of Bali was catastrophic for Indonesia. In the year following the bombings, the number of tourists dropped by over 32 percent and resulted in huge decreases in tourism revenues. Meanwhile, today at least 23 countries have issued travel warnings for Thailand in the wake of last October’s Bangkok bombings.

Southeast Asia’s reputation as an idyllic and harmonious holiday destination is increasingly under threat. Malaysia, which has the region’s second-largest Muslim population, arguably carries the greatest risk of becoming the next target. Yet with its economy so dependent upon the continued inflow of foreign tourists, the battle against Islamic terrorism is not one that the country can afford to lose.

The authors of this report are Phill Hynes and Hrishiraj Bhattacharjee, analysts at ISS Risk, a frontier and emerging markets political risk management company covering North, South and Southeast Asia from its headquarters in Hong Kong.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 April 2016, 2:24 am and is filed under
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Hasan should convene emergency PAC meeting to ask Arul Kanda to explain why he should not be referred to Committee of Privileges next month  for lying to PAC claiming that Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar BVI) was related to Aabar Investment PJS

The  Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Datuk Hasan Arifin should convene an emergency PAC meeting to ask the 1MDB President and CEO,  Arul Kanda Kandasamy to explain why he should not be referred to the Committee of Privileges next month for lying and claiming to the PAC that Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar BVI) was related to Aabar Investment PJS.

Within four days of the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB last Thursday, Arul Kanda’s lie to the PAC in his testimony on 18th December 2015 was exposed when the  Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) told  the London Stock Exchange in a statement on Monday that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm Aabar Investments PJS Limited which was paid RM4.24 billion (about US$1.367 billion) by 1MDB as security deposit in 2012.

This is the fastest result for any PAC Report in the nation’s 59-year parliamentary history, and the five Opposition PAC members have been fully vindicated for signing the PAC Report on 1MDB although it did not go as far as it should in its findings and conclusions.

One other important thing which the PAC Report on 1MDB had achieved as a result of the signing of the five Opposition PAC members – Deputy PAC Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong),  Dato’ Kamarul Baharin Abas (Telok Kemang), William Leong (Selayang), Dato’ Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bahru) and Tony Pua (PJ Utara) – was the admission by the Najib administration of the hosts of  1MDB scams, mismanagements, dubious loans and transactions in the past seven year which until last Thursday had been dismissed as speculative and unverified allegations by irresponsible,  biased or even Jewish/Zionist-inspired journalists in hostile foreign newspapers like Wall Street Journal (WSJ), New York Times, Financial Times or unreliable websites like Sarawak Report.

One example of such blanket dismissal of various foreign press reports or Sarawak Report revelations about 1MDB was Arul’s answer to Tony’s question at the PAC meeting on Dec. 18, 2015 on the revelation by WSJ that  Aabar Investment PJS Ltd set up in British Virgin Island is unrelated to Aabar Investment PJS in Abu Dhabi.

Arul indulged in a long-winded self-righteous preface which now sounds most dishonest and hypocritical. He said:

“Yang Berhormat, I think I would preface the answer by saying that Wall Street Journal has waged a very clear campaign against 1MDB and the government, started on the 2nd of July if you recall with the revelation of confidential banking transactions of the Prime Minister. On the 3rd of July there was a raid on SRC. On the 4th of July a Special Task Force was set up which until today we don’t know who set it up, what were the terms of reference and what were the objectives of this task force.

“Frankly, I don’t know how things happen that fast in Malaysia. To me it was quite a surprise. On the 8th day of July, 1MDB was raided.  So there was a very clear series of actions which in my personal view appear co-ordinated and planned for certain objectives.

“Since then, the Wall Street Journal has published numerous articles. They have not shown proof although they have said in their articles that they’ve had access and copies of the Auditor-General’s Interim Report as well as the Lampiran or the Appendixes to that report, so they have said it.  Financial Times have said it, Sarawak Report have said it, that all of them have had access…

“So, to me it raises a lot of concern on behalf of 1MDB because obviously information that we are submitting as part of an investigative process by lawful authority like Auditor-General or lawful authority like PAC seemingly obvious to have ended up in third party hands who are not lawful authorities and who have come up with their own conclusions on these items. So, I am in a difficult position because I’m negotiating with IPIC to settle our debt for asset swap. IPIC is very concerned with all these leaks of confidential documents which have compromised our negotiations and discussions.”

He dismissed WSJ report that Aabar Investments PJS Limited as unrelated to Aabar Investments PJS as “speculative newspaper article”.

The PAC meeting should summon Arul to explain why he had lied in denying that the British Virgin Islands-Aabar Investment PJS Limited was unrelated to Aabar Investments PJS in Abu Dhabi – which had been established in the London Stock Exchange statement on Monday – as well as to explain the rather revealing and incriminating statements in his long-winded and self-righteous preface, in particular when he said: “On the 4th of July a Special Task Force was set up which until today we don’t know who set it up, what were the terms of reference and what were the objectives of this task force.”

The PAC should ask Arul why he made such a statement, and establish whether there was a Special Task Force into the 1MDB, and even calling on the four Tan Sris who were supposed to sit on the Special Task Force to testify at the PAC – the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamad and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

Arul seems to suggest a massive conspiracy against 1MDB and the Prime Minister and the PAC  should question him on these related issues, like the sacking of the then Attorney-General, Tan Sri Gani Patail  and even the sacking of the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

The greatest  importance of the PAC Report on 1MDB is that henceforth no one, whether in 1MDB or the Najib government, could dismiss the hosts of 1MDB scams, mismanagement, dubious loans and transactions in the past seven years and refuse to give accountability with the blanket  excuse that they were “unverified” or “speculative” allegations as they have now all  been admitted officially by the PAC Report on 1MDB which is dominated by a majority of BN MPs!

The BN Strategic Media Communications Director and Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan was self-righteous in asking why the Opposition PAC members had not submitted a “minority report” on the PAC findings on the 1MDB.

I think the five Opposition PAC Members were wise and right in not demanding to submit a “minority report” as such efforts would not only be aborted (why there has been no ‘minority report’ in Malaysian parliamentary history), even the PAC Report on 1MDB submitted on Thursday would not see the light of day on one ground or another, including the ridiculous “sub judice” argument.

It is now the UMNO/BN leadership who regret and rue the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB although it is not fully satisfactory.

I had said that PAC member  Tony Pua was  over-generous to give 80 marks to the PAC Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks.

I believe that at least 40% of the first global scandal in the nation’s history has still to be disclosed, and the challenge of every patriotic Malaysian is to uncover the whole sordid tale of the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

The PAC Report on the 1MDB is the first step, not the last lap, in unveiling the intricacies and complexities of the first Malaysian global scandal with global dimensions – as illustrated by IPIC statement to the London Stock Exchange.

As clearly stated by the joint statement on Tuesday by the five  Opposition members on the PAC, PAC Chairman Datuk Hassan Arifin was wrong when he  said the PAC found no evidence of wrongdoing and that no money went missing from 1MDB.

This is another reason why Hasan Arifin should convene an emergency meeting of the PAC – to establish whether it is  Hasan or the five Opposition MPs on PAC who are  guilty of misrepresenting what the PAC had decided in its report on the 1MDB.

In their joint statement, the five Opposition PAC MPs stressed that the PAC Report showed that billions of ringgit have flowed out from 1MDB and were unaccounted for.

They said: “As such, we urged the PAC chairperson to retract his statements because they are baseless, misrepresent PAC’s views and are lies.

“We hope the PAC chairperson is not abusing his position as the head of a parliamentary committee for the BN and PM Najib Abdul Razak’s political interests.”

Hasan cannot keep his silence on the joint statement by the five Opposition PAC members, who must be congratulated for signing the PAC Report so that Malaysian can see the “tip of the iceberg” of the 1MDB global scandal – as up to now, the powers-that-be had refused to admit that 1MDB represented any scandal at all, let alone a global scandal.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 April 2016, 9:00 am and is filed under
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Malaysia on the wrong track

Opinion

THE AUSTRALIAN

APRIL 14, 2016

Malaysia’s use of its colonial-era Sedition Act to frame possible charges against former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad following his interview with The Weekend Australian is a worrying sign of the extent to which democracy, civil rights and stability are under threat in one of the most important countries in our region. Dr Mahathir, 90, was Malaysian prime minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. But that has not saved him from the ire of the incumbent Prime Minister, Najib Razak. Mr Najib is fighting for political survival amid the $1 billion 1MDB sovereign wealth fund corruption scandal. Although he was widely regarded as Mr Najib’s mentor, Dr Mahathir is now fiercely critical of Mr Najib, demanding his removal from office.

In his recorded interview with our Southeast Asia correspondent Amanda Hodge, Dr Mahathir argued “foreign interference” was needed to oust Mr Najib, saying: “Normally I don’t like foreign interference in Malaysia’s affairs but our avenues for redress have been closed completely. So now we have to allow interference in our domestic affairs.” Under pressure, Dr Mahathir has since sought to qualify those remarks, saying he did not ask for foreign governments to interfere. But that has not pacified Mr Najib.

Malaysian police have confirmed they are investigating a range of charges against Dr Mahathir, including some under the Sedition Act, which Amnesty International says is being widely used to “silence, harass and lock up hundreds of (government) critics”. Last year in Malaysia — a country with which Australia has close economic as well as defence and security ties under the Five Powers Defence Arrangement — at least 91 individuals were arrested, charged or investigated under the Sedition Act. That is five times as many as during the law’s first 50 years from 1948. Journalists, lawyers and opposition politicians have been targeted. Amnesty has described it as “the authorities’ weapon of choice when lashing out at opponents”. Amnesty also has raised the alarm about “the rapidly shrinking space for freedom of expression”.

In office, Dr Mahathir was a rabid nationalist, invariably grumpy about the West and seldom warm towards Australia. But in the present crisis he laudably has committed himself to the honourable side. The fact he is being investigated for possible charges under the Sedition Act indicates how parlous the situation has become under Mr Najib’s autocratic attitudes.

The British-educated Mr Najib is the son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, and nephew of its third, Hussein Onn. He is steeped in the country’s post-colonial democratic traditions. But he is showing scant regard for them by lashing out at critics concerned about hundreds of millions of dollars deposited in his bank accounts. He insists Malaysia’s name is being “unfairly dragged through the mud”. In January he claimed “the matter has been comprehensively put to rest”. In fact, the repression he has embarked on is making matters worse.

Malaysia’s reputation as a stable and economically successful bulwark against Islamic extremism in our region is being imperilled by Mr Najib’s high-handed, self-serving actions. He is going down the wrong path. Malaysians deserve better than a slide into oppression.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 14 April 2016, 3:10 am and is filed under
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PAC should reconvene and present new findings on 1MDB based on three factors: (i) reconsideration of PAC Report on 1MDB; (ii) London Stock Exchange statement that Aabar Ltd BVI is phoney company; (iii) summon important  witnesses omitted in PAC investigations

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should reconvene and present new findings on 1MDB based on three factors: firstly, reconsideration of PAC Report on 1MDB; secondly, the London Stock Exchange statement that British Virgin Islands-incorporated Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) has no links with the Abu Dhabi-state owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) or its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS and that neither of them have received US$3.5 billion which 1MDB had paid to Aabar BVI; and thirdly, summoning important witnesses omitted in PAC investigations.

I say reconsideration of the PAC Report on 1MDB because the host of  1MDB scams, mismanagements, dubious loans and transactions do not just demand that the 1MDB former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and others in the management should be held responsible for the first global corruption in the nation’s history, but all fingers in the PAC Report  point to a final authority and decision-maker higher than Shahrol.

This is because there are four tiers of management authority in 1MDB, namely the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and the Top Management, but over and above all these three tiers of management, is the fourth and most vital tier – the Prime Minister who by virtue of Article 117 of 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association  (M&A) is the ultimate authority who exercised final direct control of 1MDB.

Article 117 of the 1MDB M & A 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.

Last June, when he was temporarily appointed the Cabinet spokesman for the 1MDB scandal, the Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Husni Hanadzlah admitted in a TV interview on “1MDB: Di mana wangnya?”  that Najib as Prime Minister is the final approving authority for all 1MDB deals, investments and transactions.

Najib’s written approval was  needed for any financial deal undertaken by 1MDB.

As far as I know, 1MDP is the first case where the Prime Minister’s “written authority” is needed for any financial deal undertaken by a government company.

Under such circumstances, how could the PAC just blame Shahrol for the 1MDB scandal when Najib was virtually involved in the day-to-day running of the company, not only  because he was  Chairman of the 1MDB Advisory Board – which apparently never met – but by virtue of Article 117 of the 1MDB M & A.

The second reason is the London Stock Exchange revelation that the British Virgin Islands-incorporated Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) is a phoney company.

One shock tactics UMNO/BN Ministers, leaders and cybertroopers like the Barisan Nasional Strategic Media Communications Director and Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan had been hashing in the past week was in the form of the question on the social media: “U guys bodoh!! Why sign the report when u r only 80% satisfied. BODOH!”

Thinking that he could go for the jugular, Abdul Rahman Dahlan even asked why  the Opposition PAC members had not submitted a “minority report” on the PAC findings on the 1MDB.

I think the five Opposition PAC Members were wise and right in not demanding to submit a “minority report” as such efforts would not only be aborted (why there has been no ‘minority report’ in Malaysian parliamentary history!), or even the PAC Report on 1MDB submitted on Thursday might not see the light of day on one ground or another, including the ridiculous “sub judice” argument.

Two important  achievements of the PAC Report on 1MDB signed by the  five Opposition PAC members – Deputy PAC Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong),  Dato’ Kamarul Baharin Abas (Telok Kemang), William Leong (Selayang), Dato’ Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bahru) and Tony Pua (PJ Utara)are:

1.     The swift development in a matter of four days to resolve what the PAC could not do in a year of investigation – the London Stock Exchange statement by International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) on Monday that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm Aabar Investments PJS Limited which was paid US$3.5 billion by 1MDB – the fastest result for any PAC Report in the nation’s 59-year parliamentary history. Now is how to pick up the pieces, with the big hole of US3.5 billion 1MDB accounts.

2.     the admission by the Najib administration of the host of  1MDB scams, mismanagements, dubious loans and transactions in the past six years which until last Thursday had been dismissed as speculative and unverified allegations by irresponsible,  biased or even Jewish/Zionist-inspired journalists in hostile foreign newspapers like Wall Street Journal (WSJ), New York Times, Financial Times or unreliable websites like Sarawak Report.

It is now the UMNO/BN leadership who regret and rue the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB although it is not fully satisfactory – but it should be the first step, not the last lap, in unveiling the intricacies and complexities of the first Malaysian global scandal with global dimensions, with global implications as there are some ten countries where one investigation or another connected to the 1MDB scandal is being carried out.

The third reason why the PAC should reconvene and reconsider its findings on 1MDB is to summon important witnesses which it had not called, including  Jho Loh, the four Tan Sris on the Special Task Force on 1MDB, viz the then Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamad and the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, and most important of all, the Prime Minister himself as the final authority of all 1MDB decisions by virtue of Article 117 of the 1MDB M&A.

The PAC should reconvene in emergency meeting to try to submit a revised PAC Report on 1MDB in time for presentation to Parliament when it reconvenes on May 16.

Whether the PAC submits a revised PAC report on not, Parliament should devote the first three days to debate the PAC Report on 1MDB tabled last Thursday, and I will give notice of a motion to this effect, as I will be able to return to Parliament for the May meeting  following the end of my six-month suspension from Parliament.

(Speech at the Pakatan Harapan forum “PAC 1MDB Report: Najib – Complicit or Innocent?” at the IDCC  Shah Alam on Thursday, 14th April 2016 at 8.30 pm)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 15 April 2016, 12:53 am and is filed under
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Will 2016 Sarawak GE herald great changes in Malaysia’s 14GE as happened in two previous 2006 and 2011 Sarawak state elections, or will Adenan succeed in crushing DAP and Pakatan Harapan as he is hoping to do?

For the past 10 years, Sarawak had been both the barometer and the vanguard of political change in Malaysia.

DAP’s breakthrough win of six State Assembly seats in the 2006 Sarawak GE heralded the “political tsunami” in the 12th GE in Malaysian parliamentary elections in 2008 which saw the Barisan Nasional losing power in five states – Penang, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan.

DAP’s doubling from six to 12 State Assembly seats in the 2011 Sarawak GE heralded the 13th GE in Malaysian parliamentary elections in 2013, which should have toppled Barisan Nasional from Putrajaya as Pakatan Rakyat won 53% of the popular vote, but because of an unfair and undemocratic electoral system, Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the first minority Prime Minister in Malaysia.

What will happen in the May 7, 2016 Sarawak state elections, and what has it in store for the 14th GE in Malaysian parliamentary elections which must be held by 2018?

There are both certainties and imponderables in the 11th Sarawak State General Elections on May 7.

These include the certitudes that Tan Sri Adenan Satem will be returned as the Sarawak Chief Minister and the Sarawak Barisan Nasional will form the Sarawak State Government after polling day.

But what is uncertain is whether Adenan will win with a two-thirds majority in the Sarawak Assembly, i.e. at least 55 out of 82 State Assembly seats.

Can Adenan and Sarawak Barisan Nasional be denied victory in at least 28 State Assembly seats on May 7 so as to deny the new Sarawak state government a two-thirds majority which will allow a massive abuses of power by the Sarawak State government, without effective checks-and-balances in the State Assembly?

It is going to be a very tall order for the Pakatan Harapan parties of DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah to win at least 28 State Assemby seats (even with PH “plus, plus”

arrangements with local Sarawak parties).

In fact, a new history will be created in the 53-year electoral history of Sarawak if the incumbent State Government could be denied its two-thirds State Assembly majority.

If it is going to be a very difficult task even with an electoral pact reached by Pakatan Harapan on ensuring an one-to-contest against Sarawak Barisan Nasional as far as Pakatan Harapan is concerned, it will be an impossible mission if the one-to-one electoral pact already reached by Pakatan Harapan is violated, resulting in multi-cornered fights involving Pakatan Harapan.

Adenan is very confident about the May 7 Sarawak state general elections, and is even talking about wiping out the DAP, PKR and Pakatan Harapan in Sarawak politics.

It is essential and critical therefore that Pakatan Harapan parties  demonstrate their  unity, cohesion, discipline and commitment to put Sarawak and national interest above both party and personal considerations so as to achieve two goals in the 11th Sarawak state general elections:

Firstly, to secure victory in the 14 seats won by Pakatan Harapan parties in the 2011 general elections; and secondly to make a breakthrough by winning new seats in the rural hinterland.

It  is as good as “mission impossible” to believe that the Opposition combined can win 28 state assembly seats as to deny Adenan two-thirds majority in the State Assemby.

But it is nonetheless a goal which all Sarawakians who cherish democracy,   genuine espousal of Sarawakian  autonomy rights and the promotion of national unity to continue to make this “mission impossible” their objective and target in the May 7 Sarawak GE.

(Speech at the opening of the Miri DAP Sarawak Election Centre in Miri on Saturday, 16th April 2016 at 1 pm)

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 16 April 2016, 3:15 pm and is filed under
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Call on Adenan to lead Sarawak BN to an election victory which will be the result of clean, free, fair and democratic elections which could be the pride of Malaysia and the world

I flew  from kLIA to Miri this morning with the DAP National Organising Secretary and MP for Seremban, Anthony Loke, to carry out legitimate political activities n Sarawak, i.e. the 11th Sarawak State General Elections, as guaranteed by the Malaysian Constitution, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the 18 Points, but Anthony Loke became the latest victim of a gross abuse of power when he was not allowed to enter Sarawak and was sent back to KLIA on the same Air Asia flight back.

Loke joins a long list of DAP, PKR and Amanah leaders/MPs who have been denied their constitutional right to carry out legitimate political activities in Sarawak in the 11th state general election – a list which includes DAP leaders/MPs like National Vice Chairman  and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, DAP National Publicity Secretary Tony Pua (MP PJ Utara); Asst National Publicity Secretary Teo Nie Ching (MP for Kulai); PKR National Chairmen Nurul Izzah Anwar (MP Lembah Pantai), Tian Chua (MP Batu), Rafizi Ramli (Pandan), Shamsul Iskandar (MP Bukit Katil) and PKR MPs like Zuraida Kamaruddin (Ampang)  and Sim Sze Tsin (Bayan Baru) and Parti Amanah President Mohamad Sabu.

Four days ago, I had urged the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem to revoke the blanket ban on DAP, PKR and Amanah leaders from entering Sarawak to carry out the legitimate political activity during the 11th Sarawak State General with nomination day fixed on April 25 and polling on May 7.

I had said that both Adenan and I are septuagenarians – he at 72 and me at 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.

Let the 11th Sarawak state general elections be a clean, free, fair and democratic one.

In fact, I call on Adenan to lead Sarawak BN to an election victory which will be the result of clean, free, fair and democratic elections which could be the pride of Malaysia and the world.

There is not a single person, whether in Sarawak or Malaysia, who doubt that Adenan will be returned in the 11th Sarawak state general election as the Chief Minister of Sarawak.

As far as forming the next Sarawak State Government is concerned, nobody would dare to say that the Sarawak Barisan Nasional could be denied and defeated.

The only question is whether Adenan could win two-thirds majority of the State Assembly, which means getting at least 54 State Assembly seats.

I do not believe there are many who would dare to claim that the Sarawak BN could win less than 50 seats out of 82 State Assembly seats.

The only question is whether Pakatan Harapan and parties allied to PH could win a total of at least 28 seats – which is a very tall order, which will make history in Sarawak state politics.

With such a strong political position, why is it necessary for Adenan to mar his image as a democrat and his victory as Sarawak Chief Minister through undemocratic means like gross abuse of power?

Adenan does not need to abuse the immigration autonomy powers to win any seat for the PBB. If any, the abuse of immigration autonomy powers is to assist SUPP and UPP leaders contesting in the Sarawak State Elections.

Will the SUPP and UPP leaders confess that the abuse of immigrant autonomy powers by the Chief Minister was solely to benefit them?

In fact, was Adenan’s abuse of autonomy immigration powers at their request – and if not, are they prepared to publicly urge Adenan not to abuse the immigration autonomy powers as this is bad not only for democracy in Sarawak and Malaysia, but also for democratic image of the Sarawak Chief Minister?

During the present visit to Sarawak, I will cover nine Sarawak state assembly seats, viz: Piasau, Senadin, Pujut in Miri, Mulu in Baram, Pakan in Julau, Repok and Maradong in Sarikei, and Bukit Assek and Pelawan in Sibu.

I am not involved in the Pakatan Harapan discussion and negotiations for the Sarawak general elections, but I am glad to be informed that a one-to-one electoral contest had been agreed among the three Pakatan Harapan parties, and I hope that this electoral accord reached by the three Pakatan Harapan parties can hold in Sarawak state elections from Nomination Day to Polling Day and  be the basis of greater political co-operation for Pakatan Harapan parties in the 14th Malaysian General Elections which must be held by 2018.

The Pakatan Harapan Sarawak leaders will be announcing the candidates for the Sarawak State Assembly elections and  I hope that the DAP candidates in the nine  Sarawak State Assembly seats I will be visiting in the net three days will be able do well on May 7.

The Battle for Sarawak in the 11th Sarawak State General Election  is the Battle for Malaysia for future generations, in Sarawak as well as rest of the country.

Never before have the Sarawak state general election been so important in the 53-year history of Sarawak, for what happens on Sarawak polling day is not just about Sarawak, whether Chief Minister  Adenan Satem can form the Sarawak State Government with or without two-thirds majority,  but even more important, how it will affect Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s future as sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia because of the RM50 billion 1MDB global scandal.

In fact it is no exaggeration to say that the forthcoming Sarawak State General Elections is even more important to Najib than to Adenan in determining the fate of the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.

This is why Najib  had visited Sarawak more than 50 times since becoming Prime Minister!

The issue in the Sarawak state general elections is not whether Adenan will continue as Sarawak Chief Minister but whether the victory of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional on May 7 could be used by Najib as an endorsement of his premiership, both in Malaysia and internationally.

Lets work for a Three Wins result in the 11th Sarawak State General Election – win for Pakatan Harapan, win for Sarawak and win for Malaysia.

(Media Conference Statement in Miri on Friday, 15th April 2016 at 2 pm)

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Call on Sarawak voters to support DAP and Pakatan Harapan candidates as an appreciation for the life-long struggle of Wong Ho Leng and Karpal Singh for their commitment and sacrifices  for a democratic and better Sarawak and Malaysia

Today is the second anniversary of the passing of DAP National Chairman, MP for Bukit Gelugor and life-long champion for democracy and human rights in Malaysia, Karpal Singh.

In another two months, we will sadly mark the second anniversary of the passing of another great Malaysian son who had also dedicated his life to  promote democracy and human rights in Sarawak and Malaysia, as well as the constitutional rights of Sarawakians  to autonomy in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 – Richard Wong Ho Leng, DAP Sarawak State Chairman and State Assemblymen for Bukit Assek.

This year marks the 38th anniversary of the formation of DAP in Sarawak and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the DAP in 1966.

For half a century, DAP leaders  who have passed the test of time have  proven that we are a breed of political leaders who are in politics not because of wealth, position or glory but because of our political convictions and ideals, even when we are subject to trials and tribulations like detention without trial, selective prosecution and persecution, protracted character-assassination in the mainstream media, etc.

Malaysiakini has just reported that  DAP candidates will be facing at least half a dozen Chinese business tycoons and family members of wealthy timber merchants in Sarawak who  will be Barisan Nasional candidates in the 11th Sarawak state general elections on May 7.

If general elections is a battle of money power, DAP will lose hands-down and we will not have survived half a century of political struggle to become the party of choice of Malaysians  in the urban areas in Malaysia, whether Sarawak, Sabah or Peninsular Malaysia.

If the 11th Sarawak state general elections on May 7 is going to be decided by money power, it will be a disaster for Sarawak DAP, for DAP and Pakatan Harapan stand to  lose in both our defensive and offensive strategies – in the case of DAP, defend the 12 seats we won in the 2011 Sarawak state general elections, or taking the offensive, making a  political breakthrough by winning  seats in the Dayak rural areas.

As I had said, if politics is about money power, DAP  would have been wiped out  from the Malaysian and Sarawak political landscape long ago, as the DAP  and DAP leaders  do not have money to compete with the financial juggernaut of the  Barisan Nasiona/UMNO machinery.

Karpal Singh and Wong Ho Leng dedicated their lives not to making a fortune for themselves or  to acquire titles or position, but to serve the people and country.

The 11th Sarawak state general elections will be an opportune  occasion for Sarawak voters, on behalf of Malaysian voters, to record their appreciation for the sacrifices and the life struggle of Wong Ho Leng and Karpal by giving unstinting support to DAP and Pakatan Harapan on May 7  – as an encouragement to political leaders to dedicate their political life to principle and the people’s rights and interests and not for self-gain, whether in amassing personal fortune, position or glory.

The 11th Sarawak state general election is not an easy electoral battle for the Opposition, whether DAP or Pakatan Harapan because the Sarawak BN will be led by Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who has established himself as a very popular Chief Minister who believes that he could cut the DAP, PKR and Pakatan Harapan down to size on May 7.

In any event, Adenan’s re-election as Sarawak Chief Minister as head of the Sarawak BN state government after the Sarawak state general election  is unchallenged, and the only question is whether Adenan could win the 11th Sarawak general election with two-thirds majority in the Sarawak State Assembly – i.e. with  at least 55 State Assembly seats.

Pakatan Harapan has agreed to a one-to-one electoral contest against Barisan Nasional in the Sarawak state general election. Even with  this Pakatan Harapan electoral understanding of one-to-one contest against the BN, it is going to be virtually an impossible mission to deny Adenan two-thirds majority in the State Assejbly on May 7, as Pakatan Harapan will have to win  at least 28 state assembly seats.

The chances of denying the BN two-thirds State Assembly majority will be completely lost if the Pakatan Harapan electoral pact of one-to-one contest against Barisan Nasional is violated, as we will be destroying a win-win formula for a lose-lose formula.

When I was in Maduri yesterday morning, I urged Marudi voters to vote for the PKR candidate as the seat will be contested by PKR. DAP leaders, members and supporters will not undermine the chances of Pakatan Harapan candidates in any constituency, for we want Pakatan Harapan to win.

Similarly in the Mulu state assembly constituency, one of the 12 new seats in this election, which will be contested by DAP, all Pakatan Harapan leaders, members and supporters must be united with one single-minded purpose to achieve victory.

If this is the spirit which is shown by all  leaders, members and supporters of Pakatan Harapan regardless of whether  the candidate is from DAP, PKR or Parti Amanah, we can still hope to achieve the  political miracle of denying Adenan two-thirds State Assembly majority.

Otherwise, we can forget about denying Adenan two-thirds State Assembly two-thirds majority.

In which case, what is it that we are trying to achieve in Sarawak on May 7?

(Speech at the opening of the Sarikei DAP election centre on Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 2 pm)

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Najib’s media strategists want to have a second bite of the cherry after the first abysmal failure of the  media scam to create the myth and image that PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Najib from any wrongdoing

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is badly served by his coterie  of astronomically-paid media strategists, who want to have a second bite of the cherry after the first abysmal failure of their media scam to create the myth and image that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on the 1MDB had exonerated Najib from any wrongdoing in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal.

This elaborately-structured media edifice collapsed like a house of cards when four days after the PAC Report on 1MDB was tabled in Parliament without debate, Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm Aabar Investments PJS Limited, which was paid a least USD3.5 billion by 1MDB.

Was the astronomical sum of USD3.5 billion paid by 1MDB to a phoney company by mistake or by design –  making it Malaysia’s first global financial scandal?

Although the PAC Report on 1MDB did not directly implicate Najib in any wrongdoing, picking on the 1MDB former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi as the convenient scapegoat, nobody believes that a public servant  like Shahrol would dare to involve the country in a RM50 billion global scandal, if he is not directed to do so, especially as 1MDB has an unprecedented clause in its  Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) – Article 117 requiring the Prime Minister’s “written authorisation” for every major decision, investment and transaction.

With the absmal failure in four short days in the  media scam that the PAC Report had exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing in the 1MDB scandal, Najib’s media strategists have quickly concocted a second media scam to redeem themselves – the U-turn statement by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir that the billions of ringgit deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts were “a genuine donation” from Saudi Arabia “with nothing expected in return”!

Is  Al-Jubeir to be believed when he had told New York Times in early February that he did not think the RM2.6 billion deposited in Najib’s personal bank accounts was a political donation, or that it originated from the Saudi government.

Instead, Al-Jubeir said the money was from an unspecified “investment”, saying that it was from “a private Saudi citizen”.

What has caused Al-Jubeir to change his mind in two short months or has he become a pawn  in the second media scam of Najib’s media strategists?

How much donation was Al-Jubeir referring to – RM2.6 billion or RM4.2 billion, as Wall Street Journal had revised upwasrds  the sums of money deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts.

Al-Jubeir’s U-turn statement would have greater credibility before the IPIC statement to the London Stock Exchange of 11th April on a phoney company, the British Virgin Islands-incorporated Aabar Investments PJS Ltd which was paid  USD3.5 billion  by 1MDB  actually meant for the Abu Dhabi-company Aabar Investment PJS.

Even more troubling, Wall Street Journal had previously reported that the billions of ringgit amounting to some RM4.2 billion, had come from the missing 1MDB billions of ringgit  which had apparently been “wrongly paid” to the British Virgin Islands company, Aabar Investment PJS Limited!

Can Al-Jubeir throw light on this conundrum?

One virtue of the PAC Report on 1MDB is that the host of 1MDB scams, deals, dubious loans and transactions in the past six years which had appeared in foreign newspapers like Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times and the whistleblower website Sarawak Report  in the past year could no longer to dismissed as “unverified” or “speculative” reports, because they have now been admitted as true in the PAC Report, with the Chairman and majoirty of PAC members coming from Barisan Nasional.

Now, the question asked by discerning people in  Malaysia and the world is whether Al-Jubeir is part of a new media scam in his sudden U-turn statement that the RM2.6 billion donation to Najib was completely above-board.

How does Al-Jubeir know?

No amount of press statements by Najib’s Ministers, whether the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak or the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Said Othman, can add value and credibility to Al-Jubeir’s U-turn statement – as only Al-Jubeir can explain why he has  contradicted his February statement and whether he has any evidence to support his latest U-turn statement.

There is only one way for Al-Jubeir to establish the credibility and truth of his U-turn statement – offer to  come to Malaysia to appear before the PAC to testify what he knows about the “donation” into Najib’s personal banking accounts, bringing with him all available evidence to support his testimony.

If not, Al-Jubeir’s latest statement has as much credibility and worth as the statements regularly made by Najib’s Ministers, whether Salleh, Azalina or the BN Strategic Communications Director Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan!

It is not without reason that former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has now even doubted Azalina’s reading ability – not to mention the value and credibility of her statements.

(Speech  at the opening of the Sibu DAP election centre on Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 9 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 April 2016, 8:19 am and is filed under
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Poor Abdul Rahman Dahlan – he had to be saved by SPRM and IGP from a debate with Guan Eng which will confirm the truism that ‘empty vessel makes the most noise’

There are many events happening in the country which seem to be remote from Sarawak and unrelated to the 11th Sarawak state general election which will be held on May 7.

In actual fact, on deeper reflection, one would realise these developments have intimate relationship with the 11th Sarawak state general elections, whether the latest developments in the first global scandal in the country, the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and all the acrobatics which are being performed every day in furtherance of the media scam that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has nothing to do with Malaysia’s first global scandal, or even the cancellation of the debate that should be telecast live next Wednesday  by TV3 between DAP Secretarg-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director and Minister for Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

In fact, all the hoo-ha and the allegations against Guan Eng for corruption in connection with his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase is not unrelated to the Sarawak state general election!

TV3 had cancelled the Lim Guan Eng-Abdul Rahman Dahlan debate falling back on the “advice” from both the Inspector-General of Police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on the ground that the debate could “jeopardise investigations” on the controversy over  Taman Manggis land  and Guan Eng’s  RM2.8 million purchase of the  bungalow.

 I just cannot understand the logic and reasoning of both the IGP and the MACC.

One would have thought that they would welcome such a debate, for if new and relevant evidence surface at the debate whether in the form of documentation or any other form which are relevant to MACC or police investigations, it would be a real “bonus” to both MACC or the Police.

Why then are the Police and MACC so concerned about the debate as to produce excuses for the TV3 cancellation?

Is it to save Guan Eng or to save Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

As the former is unthinkable, the only conclusion is that both SPRM and the IGP had to work overtime to produce reasons to justify TV3 cancellation of the debate.

Poor Abdul Rahman Dahlan –  he had to be saved by SPRM and IGP from a debate with Guan Eng which will confirm the truism that ‘empty vessel makes the most noise’!

MACC has not proved itself to be  independent and professional over the politically-inspired allegations of corruption made by UMNO/BN leaders against Guan Eng.

The MACC 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  had  similar actions  been taken with regard to the first global corruption scandal 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 RM50 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?

The answer is in the negative – which is an adverse reflection on the independence and professionalism of both the Police and the SPRM.

(Speech at the opening of the Meradong  DAP election centre on Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 11 am)

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 April 2016, 12:28 pm and is filed under
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Switzerland widens its enquiries into Malaysia’s 1MDB

Economist

14th April 2016

Malaysia’s mega-scandal

One of the biggest controversies in Malaysian political history gets bigger

EARLIER this year authorities in Switzerland said they had begun criminal investigations into two former officials at 1MDB—a Malaysian state investment firm from which they believe some $4 billion may have been misappropriated through a series of deals struck between 2009 and 2013. On April 12th the Swiss said the scope of their enquiries was widening, and that they have now also opened files on two former public officials from the United Arab Emirates.

This latest escalation relates to a deal struck in 2012, in which IPIC, an Abu Dhabi state fund, agreed to guarantee bonds raised by 1MDB to purchase two power firms. 1MDB paid billions of dollars in collateral (and other monies linked to the guarantee) to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, which bore a similar name to one of IPIC’s subsidiaries. But on April 11th IPIC issued a statement to the London Stock Exchange confirming rumours that it did not own the firm.

The Swiss investigators say they have reason to suspect that instead of going to IPIC the sums benefited the two Emirati public officials it is investigating, as well as “a company related to the motion picture industry”. In early April the Wall Street Journal reported that investigators in two countries believe more than $150m originating from 1MDB found its way to Red Granite Pictures, a film-production company co-founded by the stepson of Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak. This firm subsequently financed “The Wolf of Wall Street”, a Hollywood film about a hedonistic crook, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Red Granite denies any wrongdoing and says it is co-operating with enquiries. 1MDB says it finds IPIC’s claim not to have benefited from its payments “surprising”, and says it has not given money to Red Granite. Swiss authorities note that the two Emiratis under investigation, like all defendants, are “presumed innocent”.

The Swiss attorney-general’s statement comes days after the release of a long-awaited report into 1MDB’s affairs, produced by MPs on Malaysia’s public-accounts committee. That enquiry was temporarily suspended last summer when Mr Najib promoted several of the committee’s members to the cabinet. The report identifies irregularities in several large transactions, though it stops short of alleging outright fraud. Tony Pua, an opposition lawmaker and one of the report’s authors, regrets that 1MDB was unable to provide the committee with all the documentation it requested.

The report lambasts the firm for borrowing billions, much of it under a Malaysian government guarantee, without securing enough cash flow to service its debt (which in January stood at around $12 billion but which will probably soon fall as 1MDB sells off big land and power holdings). Its authors criticise 1MDB’s board for failing to properly scrutinise its executives, and recommend that police investigate the firm’s former boss, Sharol Halmi, who now works in the prime minister’s office. But they have nothing to say about the $1 billion or so which is said to have entered accounts belonging to Mr Najib, some of which critics allege was siphoned out of the firm. (Mr Najib says that he has never taken public money for personal gain; Malaysia’s attorney-general says the prime minister received a legal personal donation from a Saudi royal, and that much of the cash was returned.)

1MDB’s board immediately offered to step down—perhaps pleased to extricate themselves from what has become one of the biggest controversies in Malaysian political history (it is not clear if their resignations have been accepted). Mr Najib’s camp says the report is further proof that the prime minister has done nothing wrong. But the committee’s hearings have drawn greater attention to a section in the 1MDB’s articles which appears to say that the firm may make no major investment without the prime minister’s approval. Mr Pua has written that Mr Najib’s signatures are “littered all over 1MDB”.

The progress of foreign investigations—under way not just in Switzerland but also in America, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE—will be closely watched by banks which helped 1MDB raise money, handled the firm’s cash or took Mr Najib’s deposits. Their ranks include Goldman Sachs, BSI, a Swiss private bank, and AmBank, which is part-owned by Australia’s ANZ. As for Mr Najib, whose party has led Malaysia’s ruling coalitions for six decades, his position looks safe for the moment. The public-accounts committee’s report marks the end of a handful of official enquiries into 1MDB’s dealings which Malaysia launched last year. The text of an earlier report, produced by the auditor-general, has been declared an official secret.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 17 April 2016, 10:20 pm and is filed under
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Abu Dhabi’s IPIC says Malaysia’s 1MDB in default on June rescue deal

CNBC/Reuters

April 18, 2016

International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) said on Monday a June agreement to provide financial support to Malaysia’s 1MDB had been terminated after the troubled sovereign vehicle failed to meet obligations to the Abu Dhabi fund.

IPIC said in a bourse filing in London the Malaysian state fund and the Asian country’s Ministry of Finance had failed to meet obligations including to pay $1.1 billion plus interest and was now in default.

While the obligations of IPIC and its subsidiary, Aabar Investments, under the June agreement had now been terminated, the Abu Dhabi fund still expected the Malaysian side to honor its commitments.

IPIC was now considering all its options to remedy the default, including referring the matter to the appropriate dispute resolution forum, the statement added.

Under the June agreement, IPIC agreed to provide $1 billion in cash as well as assume $3.5 billion of 1MDB debt. It also forgave an undisclosed amount of debt owed to IPIC by 1MDB, in exchange for assets which have not been named.

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AG Apandi  should explain why he regards the Saudi Foreign Minister’s statement as gospel truth and is even prepared to rely on  the “reported statement” by Saudi foreign minister to justify no further investigation on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal?

This is really flabbergasting.  So keen is the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali to exonerate the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal that Malaysia’s Public Prosecutor is even prepared to rely on the Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir’s “reported statement” to declare that there is no need for further investigation into the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, without even waiting for confirmation that Al-Jubeir had indeed exonerated the Malaysian Prime Minister!

Apandi should explain why he is prepared to rely on the “reported statement” by the Saudi foreign minister that the billions of ringgit deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts were “a genuine donation” from Saudi Arabia “with nothing expected in return” without even confirming  that the Saudi foreign minister had in fact made such a statement?

Furthermore, is it of no consequence to the Attorney-General that Al-Jubeir had made a U-turn on the very same issue as in early February, the Saudi Foreign Minister had told New York Times that he did not think the RM2.6 billion deposited into Najib’s personal bank accounts was a political donation, or that it originated from the Saudi government?

Instead, Al-Jubeir said the money was from an unspecified “investment”, even saying that it was from “a private Saudi citizen”.

Did Apandi seek an explanation from Al-Jubeir for his U-turn statement on the very same issue in a matter of two short months, to find out the reason for such a sudden change of mind?

Was Al-Jubeir telling a lie in early February? If the Saudi foreign minister could tell a lie in early February, what is there to stop him from lying in his latest statement?

Surely, these are relevant and pertinent questions for an Attorney-General before deciding that there is no need for further investigation into Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal?

Apandi’s decision-making process is particularly flabbergasting as he seems to dismiss the following  two recent developments as completely irrelevant and inconsequential:

*The shock statement by Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC)  to the London Stock Exchange on 11th April that neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS have any links to British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm Aabar Investments PJS Limited, which was fraudulently paid a least USD3.5 billion  by 1MDB meant for the Abu Dhabi company.

*Wall Street Journal reports that the billions of ringgit amounting to some RM4.2 billion (and not just RM2.6 billion) deposited into Najib’s personal banking accounts, had come from the missing 1MDB billions of ringgit which had apparently been “wrongly paid” to the British Virgin Islands company, Aabar Investment PJS Limited!

It is indeed most extraordinary that  while some 10 countries are conducting investigations into various aspects of Najib’s twin mega scandals,  we have an Attorney-General whose first remit is NOT to probe into Najib’s RM2.6 billion (now elevated to RM4.2 billion) donation scandal but to maintain there is no need for any re-investigation!

Other countries seem to be more diligent and conscientious in wanting to investigate whether the  Malaysian government  had breached national and international  laws against corruption, money-laundering and a host of dubious financial malpractices, while the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Malaysia is blissfully unconcerned!  Can Apandi explain why?

We are making some progress in the unearthing of Najib’s twin mega scandals – the RM50 billion 1MDB and  RM4.2 billion “donation” scandals.

The PAC Report on 1MDB tabled in Parliament on 7th April, though not fully satisfactorily in its findings and conclusions, is one major step forward as it has at least achieved one thing:  the host of 1MDB scams, deals, dubious loans and transactions  which had appeared in foreign newspapers like Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times and the London  Sunday Times and the whistleblower website Sarawak Report in the past year cannot now be  dismissed as “unverified” or “speculative” reports not worthy of attention, because  PAC Report on 1MDB have confirmed their truth and veracity.

Before Al-Jubier exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing in the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, Najib’s Ministers like Datuk Azalina Said Othman, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Khairy Jamaluddun have already exonerated Najib of any wrongdoing.

Why should Al-Jubier’s statement be accepted as gospel truth without need for verification or truth-testing – when Malaysians do not take   Ministerial statements whether  by Azalina, Salleh, Abdul Rahman and Khairy  as gospel truth?

The most important question now is for AG Apandi  to explain why he regards the Saudi Foreign Minister’s statement as gospel truth and is even prepared to rely on  the “reported statement” by Saudi foreign minister to justify no further investigation on Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal?

                This entry was posted on Monday, 18 April 2016, 5:58 am and is filed under
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