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‘Jho Low was a big client who brought 1MDB deals to BSI’

By Chan Chao Peh / The Edge Financial Daily | November 14, 2016

SINGAPORE: Low Taek Jho or Jho Low was an important client of BSI Bank (Singapore) Ltd because he brought a number of “very huge” deals to the bank, ex-BSI banker Yeo Jiawei told a Singapore court.

Yeo said Jho Low was a very important client of Yak Yew Chee, a senior relationship manager at BSI who was the person who gave instructions to him (Yeo) on what he (Jho Low) wanted done.

He described Jho Low as a “gatekeeper and adviser” to 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

Yeo is on trial for tampering with witnesses involved in Singapore’s investigations into the laundering of billions of dollars that belonged to 1MDB. He has also been charged with money laundering and the trial will start next April.

Last Friday Yak pleaded guilty and was jailed for 18 weeks and fined S$24,000 (RM72,850) for forging documents and failure to report suspicious transactions. He also forfeited a substantial part of the S$27 million he had earned for the billions of dollars in 1MDB related transactions. Continue reading “‘Jho Low was a big client who brought 1MDB deals to BSI’”

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Rafizi’s conviction, jail sentence and disqualification as MP confront Malaysians with the stark choice in 14GE whether they want democracy or kleptocracy in Malaysia

November 14, 2016 is a black day for democracy in Malaysia. It is however a great day for kleptocracy in Malaysia.

Today, one of the most outspoken leaders in Malaysia against corruption and abuses of power, Rafizi Ramli, MP for Pandan and Secretary-General of PKR, was convicted on two charges under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 for trying to unravel the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocracy scandal, sentenced to 18 months’ jail each and will be disqualified from standing for election as a Member of Parliament in the next 14th General Elections unless his appeal against conviction and sentence could succeed in the higher courts.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak called for the rejection of hypocrisy in public policy and politics.

Is the Malaysian government led by the Prime Minister guilty of hypocrisy in public policy and politics, especially with regard to the greatest question confronting Malaysians today – whether Malaysia should be a democracy or a kleptocracy?

Singapore over the weekend saw the first criminal conviction linked to the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal when former managing director of BSI in Singapore, Yak Yew Chew, 57, pleaded guilty to four charges relating to forgery and failure to disclose information.

Yak was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail and a S$24,000 fine after he agreed to disgorge S$7.5 million and to co-operate with Singapore investigations into the multi-billion dollar international 1MDB kleptocratic, embezzlement and money-laundering scandal.

In Malaysia, our first criminal conviction is not to uncover and penalize culprits and criminals responsible for the multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, which has caused the nation to suffer the international infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a “global kleptocracy”, but against a person who had patriotically and valiantly stood up for full accountability and transparency for the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal! Continue reading “Rafizi’s conviction, jail sentence and disqualification as MP confront Malaysians with the stark choice in 14GE whether they want democracy or kleptocracy in Malaysia”

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Najib cannot be more wrong – Malaysia is far from a “mediocre” country or we would not have become a “global kleptocracy” in seven short years!

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Sabah on Saturday that Malaysia don’t want to be a mediocre country as his 2050 National Transformation (TN50) agenda is to become a class one nation.

But Najib cannot be more wrong as Malaysia is far from a mediocre country or we would not have become a “global kleptocracy” in a matter of seven short years since his taking over as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia in April 2009!

The Concise Oxford Dictionary (Eighth edition 1990) defined “mediocre” as “(1) of middling quality, neither good nor bad; 2. second-rate”.

Malaysia is not “neither good nor bad” or “second-rate” but extremely “bad” and first-rate, probably top of the class of nations in the realm of “kleptocracy”.

In fact, I can think of no country which had leapt to the realm of a “global kleptocracy” in so short span of time – a feat none of the previous five Prime Ministers, including Najib’s father, Tun Razak, would even have contemplated let alone accomplished! Continue reading “Najib cannot be more wrong – Malaysia is far from a “mediocre” country or we would not have become a “global kleptocracy” in seven short years!”