Posted on by Kit

Time for a full audit and accounting of the RM100 billion losses in the financial scandals of the 22-year Mahathir premiership

Malaysians are shocked and outraged by the cynical comment of former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who sought justification for the government’s bail out MAS which resulted in a loss of public funds on the specious ground that there were worse cases of bailouts after he stood down.

As example, he alleged that his successor Tun Abdullah lost about RM8 billion when he cancelled the double tracking and electrification project between Johor Baru and Padang Besar.

This is the classic perverse Mahathirish illogic that could righteously argue that so long as there is a greater financial scandal in later administrations under his successor-Prime Ministers, there is no need for him to feel remorse, guilt or responsibility for the colossal loss of public funds or for the lack of accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance with regard to the earlier financial scandals under his watch.

This is completely unacceptable.

The time has come for a full audit and accounting of the RM100 billion losses in the financial scandals of the 22-year Mahathir premiership especially as the Najib government does not seem to have learnt any lesson from them.

The MAS bailout in December 2000 was one of the financial scandals of the Mahathir administration. It has been described as the first “double government bail out” in the world of a troubled company as well as of its principal shareholder – firstly, RM1.8 billion to bailout Tajuddin paying RM8.00 per share for his 29.09 per cent stake in MAS or more than double its market price then; and secondly, some RM10 billion to bail out losses incurred by MAS after Tajuddin’s takeover from 1994 to 2000.

But the bailouts of Tajuddin and MAS do not seem to have ended under Mahathir’s premiership and have continued right into the Najib administration.

Malaysians are entitled to know whether the tentacles of Mahathir’s misgovernance in the MAS scandal have reached into the present Najib administration as to result in another bailout for Tajudin, in the form of the cancellation or nullification of the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment of Dec. 7, 2009 ordering Tajudin to pay Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd RM589.14 million with 2 per cent annual interest above the base lending rate of Malayan Banking Bhd backdated to Jan 1, 2006.

15 Replies to “Time for a full audit and accounting of the RM100 billion losses in the financial scandals of the 22-year Mahathir premiership”

  1. Remorse?
    What remorse?
    If Malaysians didn’t like him why vote for him?
    Why gave him landslide victory after landslide victory?
    And have him ask the electorate cynical questions like, “If you don’t
    like me, why vote for me?”.
    Can anyone answer that?
    Are Malaysians masochistic?
    And those who come after him are no less cynical.
    Remember these famous words – “Which UMNO leader does not have
    problem”.
    They have been having a competition on who can scam best?
    Perhaps Malaysians can offer them prices for this contest?

  2. ///People don t lose money for nothing but the takeover was very urgent because we had to turn the company around the former prime minister right said of the move to buy MAS back at more than twice the market value at a cost of RM1.8 billion/// – TDM.

    This is merely trying to explain why for national interest required govt to buy back from TR but does not explain why it had to buy back at twice market value (unless TR is right that he has an overriding option agreement requiring the govt to buy back at price he first bought the 32% MAS stake in 1994). TDM’s explanation has deflected and not addressed the conundrum of why TR should in first place act so extraordinarily to buy this 32% stake at RM8-00 per share way above market price of RM3.50 then with borrowing of RM1.79 billion bank loan. TR claimed in his affidavits that he was instructed/forced by leadership to buy under guise of national service to bail out BNM’s FX losses! Now there 4 reasons why TR’s claims are more credible: (1) he’s out of his mind to buy at RM8 something trading at RM3.50 then; (2) he would do so if he were protected by an overriding agreement as he claimed; (3) overriding claim appears credible because govt did subsequently buy back from him at twice market price which govt is not otherwise obliged to do so; (4) affidavits are sworn statements to court and false statements constitute perjury, a punishable offence. So if what TR said were likely true, what happened to alleged FX losses that were supposedly incurred by BNM requiring TR to bail BNM out by buying its stake in MAS – all funded from public offers? It’s a political season for revelation if not confession and we need the answers now.

  3. When tycoons were made out of politics, that is no longer politic, that is Business Scam to suck the country dry.

    Mahathir confess NEP made many tycoons and it is not racial, amongst many chinese…. which is true, but at what price? productive or counter-productive?

  4. The 100b does not include the subsidy given to Proton by over-paying for their cars. THAT alone probably cost tens of billions.

    Mahathir is facing his karma having to deny anything wrong with what he did. The man simply is a MANIAC with a bad case of God complex. He is loony as a rabid dog..

  5. Mahathir encourages others to steal in the name of patriotism and for the party.
    He stole more than Rm100 billion…all told by Barry Wain 363 pages hard cover book…call ” Malaysian Maverick” .
    Mahathir dare not sue.
    This man is the dirtiest politicians you can find in the whole wide world.

  7. Pakatan must make sure it takes over Putrajaya in the coming GE.Then one by one starting with the mamak from Kerala will be dragged to court and they will be made liable to return assets which they have robbed from the national coffer.This is the only solution for the nation to retrieve all the trillions and billions that have been lost in the past 54 years.

  8. People under the Mamakthir administration became billionaires either by colluding with him or in spite of his policies. Ananda would not have become what he is with the racecourse deal with Petronas. Vincent Tan did not become what he is without colluding with UMNO.

    Robert Kuok became what he is in spite of Mamakthir’s policies. He saw what was coming, and decided to venture into China. Genting and YTL are examples of billionaires who got their break from Mamakthir, but who then realised it wasn’t going to last, and ventured overseas to make their current billions.

    If Mamakthir had benefitted “all” races, then why did the likes of the tycoons in the preceding paragraph stopped their investments in Bolehland and ventured elsewhere ?

  11. umno is making a fuss over the Bayan Mutiara land deal where it claims there was no open tender, despite proof otherwise.

    umno must first clarify the RM2.2 billion road deal for Umno lawyer Hafarizam Harun and former Chief Justice Zaki Azmi. There has been no open tender PLUS no proof to back it up.

  12. Hi, maybe others can add to this list n fwd to others….
    > Hope this will reach the MamakKutty…most theft done during his time.
    >
    >
    > 1. PKFZ RM12bill
    >
    > 2. Submarine commission RM500mil
    >
    > 3. Sime Darby RM964mil
    >
    > 4. Paya Indah Westland RM88mil
    >
    > 5. Posmalaysia (transmile) RM230mil lost
    >
    > 6. Eurocopter deal RM1bil wasted?
    >
    > 7. Terengganu Stadium Collapsed RM292mil
    >
    > 8. MRR2 repair cost RM70mil
    >
    > 9. Maybank Overpaid BII RM4bil
    >
    > 10. Tourism -NYY kickback RM10mil
    >
    > 11. 3 paintings bought by MAS—————– RM 1.5M
    >
    > 12. Overpayment by Sport Ministry————- RM 8.4M
    >
    > 13. London ‘s white elephant sports complex —- RM 70M
    >
    > 14. MRR2 Repairs—————————— RM 70M
    >
    > 15. MATRADE repairs ————————– RM 120M
    >
    > 16. Cost of new plane used by PM————– RM 200M
    >
    > 17. InventQ irrecoverable debt —————- RM 228M
    >
    > 18. Compensation for killing crooked bridge —– RM 257M
    >
    > 20. Lost in selling Augusta ——————— RM 510M
    >
    > 21. Worth of AP given out in a year ———— RM 1.8B
    >
    > 22. Submarines (future Muzium Negara artifacts)- RM 4.1B
    >
    > 23. PSC Naval dockyard ———————— RM 6.75B
    >
    > 24. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1
    > billion loss (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit)
    >
    > 25. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s
    > is believed to have cost some US$500 million. (RM1.6 billion)
    >
    > 26. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia
    > RM30 billion in the 1990s.
    >
    > 27. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion).
    >
    > 28. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd.
    > operation to shore up the stock market
    >
    > 29. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam
    >
    > 30. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of
    > €75.99 million (RM 348 million)
    > Same as No:20?
    >
    > 31. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty on Terengganu RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007
    >
    > 32. For the past 10 years since Philharmonic Orchestra
    > was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500
    > million.Hiring a kwai-lo CEO with salary of more than RM1 M per annum
    > !!
    >
    > 33. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000, Shahrizat
    > Abdul Jalil (women and social development affairs) RM404,726 and Abdul
    > Hamid Othman (religious) RM549,675 per annum
    >
    > 34. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching
    > Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the
    > amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase
    > of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is
    > unable to give a breakdown. Govt paid more than RM6k per notebook vs
    > per market price of less than RM3k through some new consortiums that
    > setup just to transact the notebook deal. There was no math & science
    > content for the teachers and the notebooks are all with the teachers’
    > children now.
    >
    > 35. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two
    > private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted
    > to RM910 million.
    > Expanding on No 2?
    > 36. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion
    > “Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge”
    >
    > 37.RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephantCustoms,
    > Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation ofthe
    > Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge
    >
    > 38. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks
    >
    > 39. National Astronaut Programme – RM 40 million
    >
    > 40. National Service Training Programme – yearly an estimate of RM 500 million
    >
    > 41. Eye of Malaysia – RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket
    >
    > 42. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink
    >
    > 43. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid
    > compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to 20 highway companies.
    > RM380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from
    > the toll hike in 2008 alone.
    >
    > 44. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies
    > connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family.
    >
    > 45. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion. At a time
    > when MAS incurring losses every year, RM1.55 million used to buy three
    > paintings to decorate its chairman’s (Munir) office.
    > Expanding on No:11
    > 46. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion.
    >
    > 47. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion.
    >
    > 48. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million.
    >
    > 49. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million.
    >
    > 50. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million.
    >
    > 51. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million.
    >
    > 52. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM 3.5 Million.
    >
    > 53. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in
    > BursaMalaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of
    > BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.
    >
    > 54. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of
    > commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives
    > of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits.
    >
    > 55. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 billion
    > ringgit in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge
    > profits.In addition, there were much wastages and forward trading of
    > Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since
    > the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we
    > have absolutely no idea of the amount.
    >
    > 56. RM5700 for a car jack worth RM50
    >
    > 57. Government-owned vehicle consumed a tank of petrol worth RM113
    > within a few minutes
    >
    > 58. A pole platform that cost RM990 was bought for RM30,000
    >
    > 59. A thumb drive that cost RM90 was bought for RM480
    >
    > 60. A cabinet that cost RM1,500 was bought for RM13,500
    >
    > 61. A flashlight that cost RM35 was bought for RM143
    >
    > 62. Expenses for 1 Malaysia campaign paid to APCO?
    >
    > 63. RM17 billion subsidy to IPP
    >
    > 64. USD24 million diamond ring for Ro$mah — cancellation of order
    > — how much compensation???
    >
    >
    >
    >

  14. Someone should just start an international movement against dr mamak and other umno idiots like that which was started to unearth taib bin sarawak’s wealth outside the country. These people knew well that umno’s time in malaysia is up. So they are very likely to siphon all their wealth to elsewhere. So trace them. Track them down!

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