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. Continue reading “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”

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: Continue reading “Fixing the Finances of Malaysia’s State Fund: The Process So Far”

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

ABU DHABI/KUALA LUMPUR | BY STANLEY CARVALHO AND PRAVEEN MENON
Reuters
April 11, 2016

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

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

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

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

What happened to the money after it went to the British Virgin Islands could not be determined, the report said. Continue reading “Mystery deepens over $3.5 billion Malaysia’s 1MDB sent to BVI entity”

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

By TOM WRIGHT and BRADLEY HOPE
Wall Street Journal
April 11, 2016

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

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

IPIC said in the statement that it has a subsidiary called Aabar Investments PJS, but that the similarly named company “was not an entity within either corporate group.” Continue reading “Abu Dhabi Fund Says It Never Received Payments From Malaysia’s 1MDB”

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). Continue reading “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”

1MDB Hearing Spells More Trouble for Najib

by Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
April 12, 2016

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

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

Released by the Public Accounts Committee, the transcripts showed 1MDB and government officials when quizzed made multiple references to Article 117 of 1MDB’s constitution which states all matters need authorization from the premier. That’s even as the probe blamed financial and reporting lapses on a former chief executive.
The scandal has heightened political tensions and sparked worldwide graft probes, although Najib has retained the support of the bulk of senior officials in the ruling coalition.

The bipartisan committee in its separate 106-page report identified at least $4.2 billion of unauthorized or unverified transactions and recommended former CEO Shahrol Halmi and other managers be investigated. Shahrol, who said last week he hadn’t done anything wrong, told lawmakers in November that Najib had signed documents related to a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd. that has been under a cloud, according to the transcripts. Continue reading “1MDB Hearing Spells More Trouble for Najib”

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! Continue reading “The Trap of Our Mindset”

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

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

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

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

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

It is impossible that Shahrol was solely responsible for the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal although Shahrol was 1MDB director for the past seven year since the inception of 1MDB and even when it was Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), apart from being the Chief Executive Officer of 1MDB for four years from 2009 to 2013. Continue reading “Mahathir among the speakers at Shah Alam forum on “PAC 1MDB Report: Najib – Complicit or Innocent?” on Thursday”

Both Adenan and I are septuagenarians who do not have many active political years left – let us do something worthwhile as promoting democracy, national unity and Sarawakian rights of autonomy instead of abuses of power to prop up a political party past its shelf life

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

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

Let us do something worthwhile in the evening of our life, as promoting democracy, national unity and Sarawakian rights of autonomy instead of abuses of power to prop up a political party past its shelf life. Continue reading “Both Adenan and I are septuagenarians who do not have many active political years left – let us do something worthwhile as promoting democracy, national unity and Sarawakian rights of autonomy instead of abuses of power to prop up a political party past its shelf life”

Jho Low is also welcome to attend and answer all charges against him at the Wednesday forum in Shah Alam on “Has the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the Internet, Shahrol’s c.v. refers to him as “an expert in value creation in multiple sectors”, and although Shahrol has proved to be a great disaster in the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal, I am strongly convinced that he is unfairly blamed by the PAC Report as the worst culprit in the 1MDB scandal. Continue reading “Jho Low is also welcome to attend and answer all charges against him at the Wednesday forum in Shah Alam on “Has the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?””

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

by Shamim Adam & Pooi Koon Chong
Bloomberg
April 7, 2016

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

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

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

Silencing the speculation around 1MDB may no longer be entirely in Malaysia’s hands. Authorities from the U.S. to Switzerland are trying to piece together evidence to determine if some of the billions of dollars that the state company raised were siphoned out of its coffers and into the personal accounts of politically-connected individuals. Continue reading “Malaysia Seeks Closure for 1MDB Scandal as Report Blames Ex-CEO”

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

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

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

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

Sarawakians and Malaysians hope to see Sarawak as the vanguard for full and genuine democracy in Malaysia, and not the other way round, where democracy is given a fatal blow by gross abuses and excesses of power. Continue reading “Why have I suddenly become an “undesirable character” to be banned from Sarawak after campaigning in seven parliamentary and nine state general elections in Sarawak in the last 38 years?”

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

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

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

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

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

Malaysia Parliament Group Slams State Fund Board for 1MDB Scandal

by Reuters
Fortune
APRIL 7, 2016

But it stopped short of implicating Prime Minister Najib Razak.

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

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

The bipartisan PAC is the first Malaysian entity to level allegations against 1MDB, which is at the center of corruption and money-laundering investigations in the United States, Switzerland, Singapore and Luxembourg. Continue reading “Malaysia Parliament Group Slams State Fund Board for 1MDB Scandal”

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

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

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

Those people who were responsible for the gala time for Air Puteh voters – free food, drinks, lucky draw, generous angpows and even entertainment activities provided for FREE – are now back in operation, this time to remove Guan Eng as Penang Chief Minister on the ground of corruption in the RM2.8 million purchase of his bungalow. Continue reading “DAP has temporarily weathered the three-week political typhoon to eliminate Lim Guan Eng as DAP Penang Chief Minister with the allegation of corruption to distract attention from Malaysia’s first global corruption scandal with the PAC report on 1MDB on Thursday”

Tony Pua was over-generous to give 80 marks to PAC Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks

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

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

Among the most incisive of the mountain of adverse comments to 1MDB’s “80% pregnant” statement was the one which said that the “rhetoric coming from a very ‘professional’ company shows its childishness and makes you wonder how such people can be entrusted to run multi-billion company”!
There are many reasons why I would give the PAC Report on 1MDB at most 60 marks.

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

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

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

Tengku Adnan is trying to put words into Seng Giaw’s mouth, for Seng Giaw told me that he never said that Najib was not involved in any wrongdoing in 1MDB. Continue reading “Tony Pua was over-generous to give 80 marks to PAC Report on 1MDB as I would give it at most 60 marks”

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

By Editorial Board
Washington Post
April 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

The text message continued:

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

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

This is indeed a strange sickness which Hasan had anticipated will last for some 40 days or seven weeks until the next Parliamentary meeting, and I must confess that I was uncharitable at the time in wondering whether this was more a “political disease” rather than a genuine sickness. Continue reading “Challenge to PAC Chairman Hasan Arifin to public forum on “Has the PAC Report on 1MDB exonerated Prime Minister Najib from wrongdoings in RM50 billion 1MDB scandal?” in KL/PJ next Wednesday”

Call for four-day emergency Parliament on the PAC report on 1MDB end April or early May to debate Malaysia’s first global scandal in history

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

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

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

Bagan is the 99th parliamentary constituency I am visiting during my six-month suspension from Parliament, for my visits to close to 100 parliamentary constituencies in Kelantan, Kedah, Perlis, Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johore in the past five months have reinforced my conviction that what the Najib government is doing is akin to trying to “wrap fire with paper” in trying to sweep the two global scandals in the nation’s history under the carpet. Continue reading “Call for four-day emergency Parliament on the PAC report on 1MDB end April or early May to debate Malaysia’s first global scandal in history”

Critical 1MDB Report Spares Malaysia’s Najib Razak

Tom Wright
Wall Street Journal
April 7, 2016

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

By TOM WRIGHT

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

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

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

“It’s all planned that way; so we could attribute blame on [the board] but exonerate the prime minister. It means nothing,” said Zaid Ibrahim, a former cabinet minister and leader in an alliance opposed to Mr. Najib. Continue reading “Critical 1MDB Report Spares Malaysia’s Najib Razak”