Malaysia Leader Under Pressure From U.S. Lawsuit Over 1MDB Assets

By JAKE MAXWELL WATTS in Singapore and YANTOULTRA NGUI and CELINE FERNANDEZ in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wall Street Journal
July 21, 2016

Prime Minister Najib Razak faced fresh calls to resign Thursday after the U.S. moved to seize more than $1 billion of assets allegedly siphoned from a development fund he founded. But with elections likely years away, Malaysia’s well-entrenched leader looked set to easily weather the latest storm.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday seeking to seize assets it said were part of “an international conspiracy to launder money’’ misappropriated from 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB.

Authorities in Singapore, Malaysia’s wealthy neighbor, followed on Thursday by saying they had seized bank accounts and placed restrictions on property transactions worth a combined 240 million Singapore dollars (US$178 million) as part of their own probe into 1MDB.

A request for comment from Mr. Najib’s office went unanswered on Thursday. Earlier, his office said it would fully cooperate with any lawful investigation in line with international protocols. Continue reading “Malaysia Leader Under Pressure From U.S. Lawsuit Over 1MDB Assets”

Malaysia fiasco undercuts Goldman’s standards push

By Una Galani
Breakingviews
Reuters

July 22, 2016

Malaysia’s sovereign fund scandal has exposed shortcomings in Goldman Sachs’ post-crisis overhaul of its business practices. Five years ago, the Wall Street firm led by Lloyd Blankfein went to great lengths to assure regulators, investors and clients that it was tightening up standards. But its dealings with the now disgraced 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) cast doubt on the depth of Goldman’s changes.

An attempt by the U.S. Department of Justice to seize assets bought with some of the $3.5 billion it says was stolen from 1MDB offer the clearest account yet of the bank’s deep relationship with the Malaysian fund. Though Goldman has not been accused of any wrongdoing, its name appears frequently in lawsuits that detail a complex web of fraudulent transactions over several years.

Back in 2009, Goldman helped set up the fund which counted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak as its top advisor. An excerpt of an email suggests that, from the very start, Goldman executives were concerned about the issue of transparency at the new fund and its reliance on borrowed money. By the time the bank started raising money for 1MDB in earnest three years later, corrupt officials had already sucked around $1 billion from the fund, the legal documents show.

Nevertheless, between 2012 and 2013 Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion by issuing three bonds. The Justice Department suggests that around 40 percent of that money was siphoned off, and indicates that $681 million ultimately found its way into Najib’s personal bank account, though the prime minister is not directly named. Continue reading “Malaysia fiasco undercuts Goldman’s standards push”

Justice Dept. Rejects Account of How Malaysia’s Leader Acquired Millions

By RICHARD C. PADDOCK
New York Times
JULY 22, 2016

BANGKOK — A United States Justice Department complaint filed in federal court this week directly contradicts repeated assertions by the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, about the origins and purpose of hundreds of millions of dollars that ended up in his personal bank accounts.

While Mr. Najib and other Malaysian officials have insisted that the money was a gift from an unidentified Saudi donor, the Justice Department said that it was stolen from a Malaysian government investment fund that Mr. Najib oversaw. Mr. Najib has said he never received any money from the fund.

The court filing, one of several complaints filed Wednesday in a federal money-laundering investigation, provides the first official public documentation of transactions that challenge Mr. Najib’s version of events in a scandal that has battered his government for the past year.

The revelations could undermine his credibility and give new ammunition to a movement to force him from office. However, he maintains firm control over his governing party and has successfully stifled opposition with the firing of critics from party posts, the closing of online news outlets and the criminal prosecution of social media detractors and political opponents. Continue reading “Justice Dept. Rejects Account of How Malaysia’s Leader Acquired Millions”

The 136-page US DOJ suit to recover more than US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets under US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 fully vindicated my April comments that PAC Report on 1MDB was only “tip of the iceberg”

The 136-page United States Department of Justice (DO)’s legal suit to recover more than US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets under the US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 has fully vindicated my April comments that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report on 1MDB scandal dealt only the “tip of the iceberg”.

In my media statement on April 8, 2016, the day after the PAC Report was tabled in Parliament without the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB although it was an integral part of the PAC Report and proceedings, I said the PAC Report had not laid to rest or rebut in any manner international perceptions that Malaysia had become one of the world’s top nations in global corruption.

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

I said at the time that what was important was the “next step” – “how to probe further than just the ‘tip of of the iceberg’ – a job which other countries of the world will do if Malaysians themselves are not up to it to get to the bottom of the truth of the 1MDB scandal, which will be to the eternal shame of Malaysia!”

My brutal forecast has come to pass. Continue reading “The 136-page US DOJ suit to recover more than US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets under US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 fully vindicated my April comments that PAC Report on 1MDB was only “tip of the iceberg””

I am not “Malaysian Official 1”. Will Najib deny that he is “Malaysia Official 1”?

Although never intended to be taken seriously, the speculation sparked by the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) legal suit to seize more than US$1 billion assets stolen from 1MDB about the identity of the kingpin of the 1MDB scandal, described merely as “Malaysian Official 1”, included the lighted-hearted one as to whether I could be “Malaysian Official 1”.

But this is a very serious matter, involving the country’s honour and international reputation.

Let me clearly and formally declare that I am not the “Malaysian Official 1.”

Will the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak similarly state his position – to formally deny it or confirm whether he is referred to as “Malaysian Official 1” and if the latter, what he proposes to do about the DOJ action. Continue reading “I am not “Malaysian Official 1”. Will Najib deny that he is “Malaysia Official 1”?”

Call for Special Parliament meeting before National Day to establish an International Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” mega scandals to regain world respect for Malaysia as country which upholds rule of law and serious about national integrity

The thirty minutes of the live streaming of the press conference of the United States Attorney-General Loretta E. Lynch, accompanied by other top US officials including Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, FBI Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe and others at Malaysian time 11.30 pm last night on the invocation of the US Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative to recover more than $1 billion obtained from corruption involving the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, had been the most shameful, humiliating and mortifying experience for me as a Malaysian, and I believe for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region, who love Malaysia and wants Malaysia to be respected all over the world.

Imagine, Malaysians who have dignity and pride about their nation, having to listen the US Attorney-General Lynch telling the whole world:

“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption.

“With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people. Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates. Corrupt officials around the world should make no mistake that we will be relentless in our efforts to deny them the proceeds of their crimes. ”

Or the US Assistant Attorney-General Caldwell who said:

“According to the allegations in the complaints, this is a case where life imitated art.The associates of these corrupt 1MDB officials are alleged to have used some of the illicit proceeds of their fraud scheme to fund the production of The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie about a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven. But whether corrupt officials try to hide stolen assets across international borders – or behind the silver screen – the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that there is no safe haven.”

Or US Attorney Decker who said: “Stolen money that is subsequently used to purchase interests in music companies, artwork or high-end real estate is subject to forfeiture under U.S. law. … All of us are committed to sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt, a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”

Or the FBI Deputy Director McCabe who said: “The United States will not be a safe haven for assets stolen by corrupt foreign officials. Public corruption, no matter where it occurs, is a threat to a fair and competitive global economy. The FBI is committed to working with our foreign and domestic partners to identify and return these stolen assets to their legitimate owners, the Malaysian people.”

Or Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) who said:

“Today’s announcement underscores the breadth of the alleged corruption and money laundering related to the 1MDB fund. We cannot allow the massive, brazen and blatant diversion of billions of dollars to be laundered through U.S. financial institutions without consequences.”

I believe many Malaysians share my shame and sorrow last night that the good name of the country, diligently built up generations of patriotic Malaysians in the past six decades, have been brought so low as to be equated with the most corrupt and the most heinous of global embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption, catapulting Malaysia to one of the top nations in the world in the league of global corruption. Continue reading “Call for Special Parliament meeting before National Day to establish an International Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s RM55 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” mega scandals to regain world respect for Malaysia as country which upholds rule of law and serious about national integrity”

US moves to seize $1bn in Malaysia assets

David J Lynch in Washington
Financial Times
20.7.2016

Van Gogh paintings, Beverly Hills properties and the rights to profits from the hit movie The Wolf of Wall Street were among $1bn in assets US prosecutors moved to seize on Wednesday as part of a sprawling anti-money laundering investigation into Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.

In one of the largest seizures in US history, federal law enforcement agents also appeared to link Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, to a web of corrupt officials receiving stolen funds.

The US justice department case represents the most detailed and sweeping allegations to be brought in the multinational probe into a global scheme to siphon more than $3.5bn from the Malaysian government fund, known as 1MDB.

It is also the first time Mr Najib has been officially tied to the scandal. Mr Najib is not identified by name in court documents but the description of a “Malaysian Official 1” matches his biography and job responsibilities. On several occasions, that official received funds misappropriated from 1MDB, prosecutors say. Mr Najib has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading “US moves to seize $1bn in Malaysia assets”

U.S. Links Malaysian Prime Minister to Millions Stolen From Development Fund

By BRADLEY HOPE and TOM WRIGHT
Wall Street Journal
July 20, 2016

In 1MDB lawsuit, Justice Department trying to seize more than $1 billion in assets

U.S. prosecutors have linked the prime minister of Malaysia, a key American ally in Asia, to hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly siphoned from one of the country’s economic development funds, according to a civil lawsuit seeking the seizure of more than $1 billion of assets from other people connected to him.

The assets, purchased by the stepson of Prime Minister Najib Razak and other persons connected to the fund, include high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York City, Los Angeles and London, artwork by Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $35 million jet. They also include rights to the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the civil-forfeiture complaints say.

Mr. Najib isn’t named in the filings, which were made public Wednesday, and he isn’t directly accused by U.S. prosecutors of any wrongdoing. But there are 32 references in the complaint to “Malaysian Official 1,” who allegedly received hundreds of millions of dollars in funds siphoned from 1Malaysia Development Bhd. Continue reading “U.S. Links Malaysian Prime Minister to Millions Stolen From Development Fund”

U.S. Targets $1 Billion in Assets in Malaysian Embezzlement Case

By LOUISE STORY
New York Times
JULY 20, 2016

The United States government moved Wednesday to seize more than $1 billion in assets purchased with money that it believes was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund by people close to the country’s embattled prime minister.

Hidden in the United States in real estate, art and other luxury goods, the money was embezzled from the fund and moved around the world using secretive shell companies that masked its trail, the Justice Department said.

The $1 billion that prosecutors say was laundered in the United States is but a portion of the billions that international investigators suspect was siphoned off by high-level officials at the fund and their associates. The fund — called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB — is overseen by the prime minister, Najib Razak, and has become a focus of rising popular discontent with Mr. Najib’s government amid several investigations at home and abroad. Continue reading “U.S. Targets $1 Billion in Assets in Malaysian Embezzlement Case”

US billion-dollar action by US DOJ to seize 1MDB-related assets proof that Malaysia is careening down the slope of failed and rogue state which must be stopped by all patriotic Malaysians

I am reminded of the first SSS Lge (Support, Sympathy, Solidarity with Lim Guan Eng) campaign 19 years ago when Guan Eng was disqualified as Member of Parliament and jailed for 18 months for defending the dignity and human rights of an under-aged Malay girl.

In that period, Guan Eng was first imprisoned and Anwar Ibrahim attended one of the SSS Lge ceramahs together with his wife Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and his daughter Nurul Izzah, before Anwar was himself imprisoned.

This time, Anwar is in prison and there are people who want Guan Eng to be jailed for one, two, three or even five years.

The common thread of the SSS Lge campaign and the SSS Lge 2.0 campaign spanning a period of some two decades is the need to change the system of governance to ensure that the national institutions in the country are independent, efficient and professional in upholding the values of justice and integrity.

What happened at the other of the world, which has a 12-hour time differential with Malaysia, illustrates the need for the change of our system of governance. Continue reading “US billion-dollar action by US DOJ to seize 1MDB-related assets proof that Malaysia is careening down the slope of failed and rogue state which must be stopped by all patriotic Malaysians”

U.S. Targets $1 Billion in Assets in Malaysian Embezzlement Case

By LOUISE STORY
New York Times
JULY 20, 2016

The United States government plans to move Wednesday to seize more than $1 billion in assets purchased with money that it believes was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund by people close to the country’s embattled prime minister.

Hidden in the United States in real estate, art and other luxury goods, the money was embezzled from the fund and moved around the world using secretive shell companies that masked its trail, a person familiar with the Justice Department plan said.

The $1 billion that prosecutors will allege was laundered in the United States is but a portion of the billions that international investigators suspect was siphoned off by high-level officials at the fund and their associates. The fund — called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB — is overseen by the prime minister, Najib Razak, and has become a focus of rising popular discontent with Mr. Najib’s government amid several investigations at home and abroad.

The forfeiture complaint, to be issued by a unit known as the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, will be the largest such case brought by the Justice Department. The United States is among several governments, including Malaysia, Singapore and Switzerland, that have investigated the fund. Continue reading “U.S. Targets $1 Billion in Assets in Malaysian Embezzlement Case”

Did the Cabinet this morning discuss the breaking news of the WSJ report that the US authorities are set to seize assets linked to 1MDB “in the largest asset seizure in US history” in the war against global corruption?

Did the Cabinet this morning discuss the breaking news at about noon Malaysian time of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that the US authorities are set to seize assets linked to 1MDB “in the largest asset seizure in US history” in the war against global corruption?

This seizure, under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative, is expected to exceed the previous record of US$850 million in assets which the US authorities sought to seize from three telecom firms in an unrelated case.

Citing sources, WSJ said the Justice Department’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is expected to file civil lawsuits seeking to seize the assets as soon as Wednesday morning in the US.

It claimed the seizure will involve properties and other assets bought with “money allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysian fund.” Continue reading “Did the Cabinet this morning discuss the breaking news of the WSJ report that the US authorities are set to seize assets linked to 1MDB “in the largest asset seizure in US history” in the war against global corruption?”

QuickTake Q&A: Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Spawns Worldwide Probes

Shamim Adam and Laurence Arnold
Bloomberg
July 20, 2016

Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1MDB, was supposed to attract foreign investment. Instead, it has spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world that have cast an unflattering spotlight on financial deal-making, election spending and political patronage under Prime Minister Najib Razak. A Malaysian parliamentary committee identified at least $4.2 billion in irregular transactions.

1. What is 1MDB?

It’s a government investment company — full name, 1Malaysia Development Berhad — that took shape in 2009 under Najib, who went on to lead its advisory board. Its early initiatives included buying privately owned power plants and planning a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The fund proved better at borrowing — it accumulated $12 billion in debt — than at luring large-scale investment.

2. What’s the issue?

Investigators have been trying to trace whether money might have flowed through and around 1MDB and illegally into personal accounts. Some of the money is alleged to have ended up with Najib and his family. That includes $681 million that landed in the prime minister’s personal bank account, according to the Wall Street Journal. Najib has denied wrongdoing, and Malaysia’s attorney general said the $681 million was a donation from the Saudi Arabian royal family, much of which was returned. Another $700 million in 1MDB funds meant for a joint venture with a company known as PetroSaudi International was found to have landed in an unrelated offshore account. Continue reading “QuickTake Q&A: Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Spawns Worldwide Probes”

U.S. Readies Push to Seize Assets Tied to Malaysian Fund 1MDB

By BRADLEY HOPE
Wall Street Journal
July 20, 2016

Authorities are expected to file civil lawsuits as soon as Wednesday

Federal prosecutors are poised to launch one of the largest asset seizures in U.S. history as they step up their investigation into billions of dollars siphoned away from a Malaysian government investment fund, according to people familiar with the matter.

Authorities are expected to file civil lawsuits as soon as Wednesday morning seeking to seize assets, which are expected to include properties and other assets purchased with money allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysian fund, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that people linked to the fund have invested millions of dollars in real estate and businesses in the U.S.

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s international corruption unit have also been conducting a wide-ranging criminal investigation into people and institutions connected with 1Malaysia Development Bhd., known as 1MDB, a sovereign-wealth fund set up by Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009 to drive the country’s economy. Continue reading “U.S. Readies Push to Seize Assets Tied to Malaysian Fund 1MDB”

Is Najib the victor or a dead man walking?

Koon Yew Yin
Malaysiakini
17th July 2016

COMMENT So far, if we go by the mainstream and official media reports, it appears as if Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is the big victor in the 1MDB and personal donation double scandals.

But is this such a certainty? Have the Umno rebels and the Umno revolt been crushed? Has Najib been cleared of his alleged political sins and crime, just because the attorney-general (AG) has declared that there will be no charges against the PM and that the RM2.6 billion political donation and RM42 million from SRC International transferred into Najib’s personal bank accounts cases are closed?

Has his nemesis, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, met his Waterloo? Will Najib be leading Umno and BN to another five more years of rule after the next election? Continue reading “Is Najib the victor or a dead man walking?”

Malaysians must be able to hope again that change of Federal Government which was within a whisker of achievement in the 13GE was possible and realizable in 14GE, even if held in July/August next year

In the 13th General Election in 2013 three years ago, Malaysians regardless of race and religion were never so united in wanting to bring about a change of Federal Government, which would be regarded as unthinkable and impossible just five years earlier before the “political tsunami” of the 12th General Election in 2008.

Although the majority of voters voted for change of Federal Government, the undemocratic and unfair electoral system allowed Datuk Seri Najib Razak to become the first minority Prime Minister in the country because he won some 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats with only some 47% of the popular vote.

Many Malaysians have become disappointed, disenchanted and given up hope that there is a possibility of democratic change in Malaysia, and have voted with their feet with a surge of migration in the past three years.

The greatest challenge in Malaysia today is to ensure that Malaysians can hope again that change of Federal Government, which was within a whisker of achievement in the 13GE, is still possible and realizable in the 14th General Election even if it is held in July/August next year. Continue reading “Malaysians must be able to hope again that change of Federal Government which was within a whisker of achievement in the 13GE was possible and realizable in 14GE, even if held in July/August next year”

UBS, DBS, Falcon face Singapore scrutiny over 1MDB transactions: sources

BY A. ANANTHALAKSHMI AND SAEED AZHAR
REUTERS
16th July 2016

Singapore’s central bank is scrutinizing several banks, including UBS (UBSG.S) and DBS Group Holdings (DBSM.SI), to see if they broke anti-money laundering rules in handling transactions linked to scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1MDB, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is looking at several aspects of the banks’ operations including whether they were diligent enough in knowing who their customers were and what the source of their funds was, and whether they were particularly careful in screening politically-exposed persons such as government officials, banking and legal sources aware of the review said.

The probe could lead to fines and other penalties if lapses are found, said the sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. It is unclear which transactions by the banks are being examined.

Switzerland’s Falcon Private Bank and Coutts International, which is owned by Geneva-based Union Bancaire Privee, are also among the banks under review, they said.

UBS, Coutts, and DBS, which is Singapore’s top lender, all declined to comment. Continue reading “UBS, DBS, Falcon face Singapore scrutiny over 1MDB transactions: sources”

Will the Police investigate criminal offences of embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption revealed in the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB although the AG’s Report is classified under the OSA?

I have been intrigued by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s statement last Saturday that he had to verify from the Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang whether the revelations and exposes by the whistleblowing website Sarawak Report were genuine version of the AG’s Report.

This is because the Police should have a copy of the AG’s Report on the 1MDB.

It is over three months ago that the Police had announced a high-level team to probe the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report which is headed by none other than the IGP himself.

As the PAC report on the 1MDB is based on the AG’s Report on 1MDB, which in a most unprecedented parliamentary manoeuvre had been omitted as an appendix to the PAC Report when laid in Parliament on April 7, is the IGP implying that the Police did not have a copy of the AG’s Report on 1MDB despite over three months of investigation into the PAC Report because it is classified under the OSA?

What then is this high-level investigation which is being conducted by the police since the tabling of the PAC Report in Parliament in early April?

There seems to be only one farce after another from one national institution to another in the sorry saga of the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal! Continue reading “Will the Police investigate criminal offences of embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption revealed in the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB although the AG’s Report is classified under the OSA?”

What has happened to the high-level police probe into the PAC Report on 1MDB headed by IGP himself after more than three months?

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Abu Khalid said last Saturday that the police will verify with the Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, whether the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB purportedly leaked by the whistleblowing website Sarawak Report was the genuine document.

He said: “We’re also not sure if the document they published is genuine. So let me discuss with the auditor-general (Ambrin Buang) first to make sure whether the document is truly the auditor-general’s report, which has been classified as secret.”

Two questions are in order.

Firstly, as a week has passed, has Khalid verified from Ambrin whether the Auditor-General’s Report on the 1MDB was the genuine report, especially as Sarawak Report is publishing the full AG’s Report on its site.

Secondly, why didn’t the Police have a copy of the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB to allow the Police to establish on its own whether the AG’s Report on 1MDB purportedly leaked by Sarawak Report was genuine? Continue reading “What has happened to the high-level police probe into the PAC Report on 1MDB headed by IGP himself after more than three months?”

Najib administration should immediately declassify the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB not only to take the wind out of the sails of Sarawak Report but to show to the world that the Malaysian Prime Minister and government have nothing to hide about allegations of 1MDB multi-billion ringgit global embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should immediately declassify the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB not only to take the wind out of the sails of the whistleblowing site, Sarawak Report, but to show to the world that the Malaysian Prime Minister and government have nothing to hide about allegations of 1MDB multi-billion ringgit global embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption.

The option to keep the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB secret and classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) was never a tenable, sustainable or wise decision in this information age when information travels at the speed of light in a borderless world, especially when the decision went against all notions of good governance and principles of accountability and transparency, as well as public pledges by the Prime Minister, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Auditor-General himself that the AG’s Report would be made available to the public.

With the announcement by the Sarawak Report website that it is publishing in full the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB, after it had carried daily exposes of the AG’s Report on 1MDB in the past few days, Najib and the Malaysian Government are only inviting global scorn, contempt and humiliation if they continue to keep the AG’s Report under wraps in Malaysia under the OSA while it is available to the world as well as to Malaysians on the borderless Internet.

The Cabinet at its meeting yesterday should have discussed the subject of the declassification of the AG’s Report to defend Malaysia’s international reputation and image. Was this subject discussed by the Ministers yesterday? Continue reading “Najib administration should immediately declassify the Auditor-General’s Report on 1MDB not only to take the wind out of the sails of Sarawak Report but to show to the world that the Malaysian Prime Minister and government have nothing to hide about allegations of 1MDB multi-billion ringgit global embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption”