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Dust over corruption allegations against Guan Eng’s RM2.8 million bungalow clearing up while monstrous sandstorm over Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals building up to explosion point

After a two-week relentless barrage by UMNO/BN strategists and cybertroopers, fully supported by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the police, the dust over the corruption allegations against DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng based on half-truths, lies and downright falsehoods, are clearing up while on the other hand, a monstrous sandstorm over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals is building up to explosion point.

UMNO/BN allegations that Guan Eng had purchased the bungalow as a result of corruption arising from the sale of Taman Manggis land to KLDIC has been proved to be baseless, as the Taman Manggis land had been sold by the Penang State Government via open tender to the highest bigger.

The other UMNO/BN allegation that the Penang State Government had “robbed” the people of low-cost housing has also been proved to be baseless, with the declassification of the State Exco minutes of the Gerakan State Government in 2005 and 2007 which showed that the Gerakan State Government at the time had rejected the use of the Taman Manggis land for People’s Housing Project (PPR) and proposed instead a mixed project of shophouses and government quarters. In 2012, the DAP-led Penang government had commenced a separate low, low-medium cost and affordable housing less than 2 kilometers away in Jalan S P Chelliah which is nearly 10 times the size of the land in Taman Manggis.

The MACC and Police have swung into immediate action, with some 15 MACC officers descending on the Penang Chief Minister’s office in Komtar, conducting a search for some four hours and carting away boxes of documents.

If the MACC had shown similar alacrity in investigating Najib’s twin mega scandals, MACC should be sending hundreds of officers to swarm and besiege the Prime Minister’s Offices in Putrajaya, and subject individuals involved in the twin mega scandals to intensive interrogation sessions, at least round-the-clock 12-hour interrogation sessions.

Would MACC dare to interrogate the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, on a round-the-clock 12-hour sessions? Continue reading “Dust over corruption allegations against Guan Eng’s RM2.8 million bungalow clearing up while monstrous sandstorm over Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals building up to explosion point”

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Authorities Investigating Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Focusing on Bond Proceeds

BRADLEY HOPE in New York, SIMON CLARK in London and YANTOULTRA NGUI in Kuala Lumpur
Wall Street Journal
April 1, 2016

Investigators in three countries studying trail of cash from Malaysia to Abu Dhabi, offshore bank accounts

Authorities in three countries investigating a Malaysian government investment fund appear to be focusing on what happened to the proceeds of $3.5 billion in bonds sold by the fund in 2012, according to people familiar with the matter.

Investigators in the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg and Switzerland are looking at the trail of cash from Malaysia to Abu Dhabi and to offshore bank accounts for a portion of the bond proceeds that appears to have gone missing, the people said.

Authorities in the U.A.E. have frozen the personal assets of and issued travel bans to two former executives of an Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund that had extensive dealings with the Malaysian fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., known as 1MDB, the people said.

The UAE’s actions indicate authorities have moved ahead in their probe into the dealings of Khadem Al Qubaisi and Mohammed Badawy Al Husseiny, both of whom had close connections to 1MDB, the people said. Mr. Al Qubaisi is an Emirati who was the managing director of an $80 billion Abu Dhabi investment fund, International Petroleum Investment Company. Mr. Al Husseiny, an American, was chief executive of another government investment company, Aabar Investments PJS, which is owned by IPIC.

The U.A.E.’s central bank issued the asset freezes, the people said, though it isn’t clear which U.A.E. government agency is running the investigation. Continue reading “Authorities Investigating Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Focusing on Bond Proceeds”

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Luxembourg launches probe in Malaysia PM fund scandal

Luxemburger Wort – English Edition
1 April, 2016

Money laundering probe

(AFP) Luxembourg on Thursday launched a money laundering probe linked to a corruption scandal embroiling Malaysian Premier Najib Razak who is accused of using money in a state-run fund for his own purposes.

Najib, 62, has been under fire over allegations that billions of dollars were stolen from 1MDB, the now struggling state firm he founded, and his acceptance of a $681 million overseas payment.

Reports have also emerged of the luxurious lifestyles, lavish spending and jet-set travel arrangements of his family, stoking calls for his resignation.

The Luxembourg prosecutor’s office said in a statement that it had launched the probe “following revelations about the alleged diversion of funds from 1MDB”. Continue reading “Luxembourg launches probe in Malaysia PM fund scandal”

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1MDB Probe Shows Malaysian Leader Najib Spent Millions on Luxury Goods

By TOM WRIGHT and BRADLEY HOPE
Wall Street Journal
March 30, 2016

Accounts of prime minister paid out $15 million for clothes, jewelry and a car

HONOLULU, Hawaii—On Christmas Eve 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stepped onto Hawaii’s 18-hole Kaneohe Klipper course for a round of golf diplomacy with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Off the fairways, another side of Mr. Najib’s time in office was on display. Two days earlier, the prime minister’s credit card was charged $130,625 to Chanel in Honolulu, according to Malaysian investigation documents. A person who works at a Chanel store in the upscale Ala Moana Center recalls Mr. Najib’s wife shopping there just before Christmas.

The credit card was paid from one of several private bank accounts owned by Mr. Najib that global investigators believe received hundreds of millions of dollars diverted from a government investment fund set up by the prime minister in 2009. The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, today is at the center of corruption probes by authorities in Malaysia and at least five other nations.

The Malaysian investigation documents, viewed by The Wall Street Journal, contain bank-transfer information that provides the most complete picture to date of the money that flowed through the prime minister’s accounts over a five-year period, the majority of it, investigators say, originating from 1MDB.

They show for the first time how some of the money in Mr. Najib’s accounts allegedly was used for personal expenses. That included $15 million in spending on clothes, jewelry and a car, according to the bank-transfer information, involving stores in the U.S., Malaysia, Italy and elsewhere. Continue reading “1MDB Probe Shows Malaysian Leader Najib Spent Millions on Luxury Goods”

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Deadly Najib Razak ‘gift’ scandal rocks Malaysia

Amanda Hodge
South East Asia correspondent
The Australian
APRIL 2, 2016

On November 1, 2011 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak received a personal windfall pledge so astonishing in size and nature that even close political allies have described it as “too good to be true”.

In language akin to that of a classic Nigerian email scam, Saudi Prince Saud Abdul Aziz Majid Al Saud praised Najib for his work in “governing Malaysia using Islamic principles”.

“In view of the friendship we have developed over the years and your new ideas as a modern Islamic leader, in addition to my earlier commitment, I hereby grant you an additional sum of up to $US375 million only (‘Gift’) which shall be remitted to you at such times and in such manner as I deem fit, either directly through my personal bank or through my instructed company bank accounts (such as Blackstone Asia Real Estate Partners limited),” the mystery prince wrote on private office letterhead.

“You shall have absolute discretion to determine how the Gift shall be utilised …. This is merely a token gesture on my part but it is my way of contributing to the development of Islam to the world.”

“For clarification, I do not expect to receive any personal benefit whether directly or indirectly as a result of the Gift,” he added.

In an act of extraordinary foresight — that someone might eventually question the hundreds of millions flowing into the Malaysian Prime Minister’s personal bank account — the letter goes on to indemnify him from suggestion of wrongdoing.

“The Gift should not in any way be construed as an act of corruption since this is against the practice of Islam and I personally do not encourage such practices in any manner whatsoever.”

The letter, obtained by Four Corners and published for the first time this week, is signed HRH Prince Saudi Abdulaziz Al Saud, but there is no further clarification of who he might be in the sprawling pantheon of Saudi family dynasties. No address, no email, no telephone number. Continue reading “Deadly Najib Razak ‘gift’ scandal rocks Malaysia”

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Lim Guan Eng: Penang’s crusading chief minister

Wataru Yoshida
Nikkei Asian Review
March 24, 2016

PENANG, Malaysia Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of Malaysia’s northern state of Penang, is invigorating the local economy through reforms and may inspire the country to set aside its protectionism to achieve sustainable growth.

On Feb. 8, Lim was celebrating the Chinese New Year with his supporters in a meeting hall in Penang. The hall was surrounded by about 30 men carrying placards denouncing him. “It is clear they have no respect,” Lim said. “If they had an issue to protest about, they could have done it at any other time.”

Lim is the only state chief minister of Chinese descent in Malaysia, which maintains a Bumiputera (“son of the land”) policy favoring ethnic Malays. Moreover, he comes from an opposition party. Eight years have passed since he became chief minister, and verbal attacks against him are still an everyday occurrence.

He has earned a reputation as a reformer. He introduced an open bidding process for state projects, abolishing the practice of awarding contracts preferentially to ethnic Malays and opening the door to all, including foreign and ethnic Chinese companies.

The state government handed over the operation of a golf course it owns to a Japanese company after the project was put out for tender. The decision led protesters to storm the golf course, but the company that won the order was relieved by Lim’s words: “To increase foreign visitors, foreign companies’ wisdom is needed.” Users of the golf course have grown 30% since the Japanese company took over the operation.

In another reform, he introduced performance-based pay for state employees, including those doing menial street sweeping jobs. “My dream is to transform Penang into an international and intelligent city. To wake up, we must be clean,” Lim said. The heaps of garbage littering the roadsides disappeared in a year. Continue reading “Lim Guan Eng: Penang’s crusading chief minister”

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Guan Eng is an open book prepared to answer all questions about his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase while Najib is a closed book running way from questions about his twin mega scandals!

There are many reasons why Datuk Seri Najib Razak should step down as Prime Minister.
The first is of course the imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) which has caused great hardships to low-income Malaysians sandwiched between falling incomes and rising cost of living.

There are many other reasons why Najib should step down as Prime Minister, including:

• Catapulting Malaysia to the stratosphere and internationally regarded as among the top ten nations in the world infamous for global corruption because of the RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” twin mega scandals.

• Refusal to come full and clean in accordance with the principles of accountability, transparency, democracy and good governance about the twin mega scandals, and even Parliament cannot be a venue to ask questions about Najib’s RM4.2 billion “donation” scandal. After a year of adverse international publicity, Malaysians and the world still do not have answers to basic questions like: Where the RM4.2 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal bank accounts from 2011 to 2014 came from and where the monies have gone to.

• Failure to sue international publications, especially Wall Street Journal and Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the former for the revelation of RM2.6 billion donations in Najib’s personal banking accounts and the latter for the latest revelation that donations deposited into Najib’s personal accounts were not just RM2.6 billion but exceeded RM4.2 billion from 2011 to 2014. Continue reading “Guan Eng is an open book prepared to answer all questions about his RM2.8 million bungalow purchase while Najib is a closed book running way from questions about his twin mega scandals!”