Posted on

The meaning of Nancy Shukri’s answer on 1MDB probe is that there will be no outcome on 1MDB investigations so long as Najib is the Prime Minister of Malaysia

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri has given a very convoluted reply to the parliamentary question on the progress of the Special Task Force to investigate into the 1MDB.

Saying that the Special Task Force is still investigating the 1MDB, Nancy said there is no time frame set for the investigations as there are many witnesses and documents to obtain, some of which are overseas.

She said the probe will be completed after the statements of all witnesses are recorded and all related documents obtained.

Once it is done, the report will be tabled to Attorney-General Mohamed Apandi Ali for further action.

Does any MP or anyone for that matter really understand what Nancy is actually trying to say in her convoluted reply?

The long and short of Nancy’s convoluted reply is that there will be no outcome on the 1MDB probe, so long as Najib is the Prime Minister of Malaysia – and make no mistake, this applies to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as well, which explains the three-month derailment of continued PAC investigation into 1MDB in August, my six-month suspension from Parliament and the new PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin’s disarmingly frank admission that he had to “cari makan” when asked why Najib was not called as a star witness in the PAC probe into 1MDB. Continue reading “The meaning of Nancy Shukri’s answer on 1MDB probe is that there will be no outcome on 1MDB investigations so long as Najib is the Prime Minister of Malaysia”

Posted on

Kulai is the 28th Parliamentary and Senai the 30th State Assembly constituency I am visiting in the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign since my six-month suspension from Parliament

I thank the people of Senai State Assembly constituency in Kulai parliamentary seat for their support this morning.

Kulai is the 28th Parliamentary and Senai the 30th State Assembly constituency I am visiting in the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign since my six-month suspension from Parliament on Oct. 22 – not because I had stolen, robbed or killed anyone, but because as elected representatives, we have the right and obligation to speak up in Parliament and the State Assemblies without fear or favour to articulate the concerns of Malaysians.

Undoubtedly today, one of the greatest concerns in everyone’s minds, even to the Malay Rulers who issued a rare joint statement on the 1MDB scandal on Oct. 6, are the two questions: where the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak personal banking accounts came from, and where they have gone to. Continue reading “Kulai is the 28th Parliamentary and Senai the 30th State Assembly constituency I am visiting in the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign since my six-month suspension from Parliament”

Posted on

Three million UMNO members and 21,000 UMNO branches must place “Save the country” as top national agenda as the UMNO President and leadership have lost national purpose and bearings

Malaysia is in unchartered waters.

We have a minority government which won only 47% of the popular vote in the 13th General Election but 60% of the parliamentary seats, allowing Datuk Seri Najib Razak to continue as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia though a minority Prime Minister for the first time in Malaysia.

For the first time in the nation’s history, the leadership structure and institutions in the country have never been so fractured, not only in the public services as in the civil service and the major agencies like the Police, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, Bank Negara, the Attorney-General’s Chambers but also in UMNO and Barisan Nasional ruling coalition.

Never before in the nation’s history, as the country been plagued by so many national crisis at the same time – political, economic, good governance and nation-building.

Never before has the country been inundated by such twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB – which have become the subject of investigations by at least seven foreign countries, viz. United Kingdom, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and the United States. Continue reading “Three million UMNO members and 21,000 UMNO branches must place “Save the country” as top national agenda as the UMNO President and leadership have lost national purpose and bearings”

Posted on

Call for an international investigation into the murder of DPP Kevin Morais following the shock statutory declaration by his brother Charles who raised many disturbing questions

Next week is the last week of the 25-day parliamentary budget meeting, and there are no signs that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will come clean and give a full and satisfactory accounting of his twin mega scandals in the last four days of the six-week parliamentary meeting from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.

Those who had hoped that the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals, now that the ASEAN and Post-ASEAN Summits with the largest-ever gathering of Asia-Pacific leaders in Kuala Lumpur in recent times had been held without any mishap, will somehow disappear or fade away by the time the UMNO General Assemblies are held from Dec. 8 to 12, 2015 cannot be more wrong.

Firstly, Najib’s twin mega scandals had haunted and hounded the ASEAN and Post-ASEAN Summits in Kuala Lumpur last weekend.

There is no doubt that Najib’s twin mega scandals featured prominently in their own internal briefings of every ASEAN and Asian-Pacific leader who was in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, receiving their personal attention even though not a single one of the ASEAN and Asian-Pacific leaders would have committed the diplomatic faux pax of breathing a word of Najib’s twin mega scandals in public.

This was why one commentator entitled a round-up of the ASEAN Summit with the heading: “ASEAN summit tarnished by Malaysian corruption scandal involving PM”. Continue reading “Call for an international investigation into the murder of DPP Kevin Morais following the shock statutory declaration by his brother Charles who raised many disturbing questions”

Posted on

Has Hishammuddin’s warning that UMNO is suffering from denial syndrome and losing trust come too late?

UMNO Vice President Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today that UMNO cannot continue with it denial syndrome as it is now facing an erosion of trust and must find ways to stay relevant.

He said that UMNO must “clearly, courageously and sincerely” admit that UMNO is facing a test of trust as the new generation of Malays do not feel the sentimental connection with the party and they no longer feel like UMNO is addressing issues that concerned them.

Has Hishammuddin’s realization and warning that UMNO is suffering from denial syndrome and losing trust come too late? Continue reading “Has Hishammuddin’s warning that UMNO is suffering from denial syndrome and losing trust come too late?”

Posted on

MPs and Malaysians are entitled to know whether Najib is going to stand up in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting of his role in the twin mega scandals or he will continue “pass the buck” to his Ministers and minions?

I commend the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin for realizing his folly in unilaterally and arbitrarily announcing a ban on all PAC media conferences, in retaliation to honest media reporting of his faux pax last Wednesday that the reason PAC would not summon Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to PAC investigations into the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal was because he needed to “cari makan”.

Hasan did a U-turn yesterday when he belatedly realized that the PAC is not a “kingdom of its own” but responsible to Parliament and answerable to the public, and it is just outrageous and completely unacceptable for Malaysia to have a PAC Chairman who has a phobia of the media.

But Hasan has not completely undone the damage he has committed to undermine public confidence in the institution of Parliament, which includes the PAC. Continue reading “MPs and Malaysians are entitled to know whether Najib is going to stand up in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting of his role in the twin mega scandals or he will continue “pass the buck” to his Ministers and minions?”

Posted on

ASEAN summit tarnished by Malaysian corruption scandal involving PM

Thomas Maresca
Special for USA TODAY
November 22, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — As the summit of Southeast Asian nations ended here Sunday, much of the focus was not on the leaders’ discussions with President Obama but on a corruption scandal dogging the summit’s host and his government’s crackdown on civil liberties.

Prime Minister Najib Razak, who told Obama that he is “committed to reforms,” stands accused of shifting nearly $700 million from a government-owned development fund into private bank accounts.

The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), is under investigation in Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Switzerland. Opposition leaders in parliament filed a formal no-confidence vote against him in October. Continue reading “ASEAN summit tarnished by Malaysian corruption scandal involving PM”

Posted on

Apart from saying “yes” or “no” as to whether he is being investigated as a “kleptocrat” by FBI, there is still a third answer by Najib

Last night, at the DAP Nibong Tebal “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” ceramah, I asked for the umpteenth time when the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will stand up in Parliament and inform the nation whether for the first time in the 58-year history of the nation, the country’s Prime Minister is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States as to whether he is a “kleptocrat” in connection with his RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals?

Since the publication of the New York Times “scoop” on Sept. 11 of FBI and US Department of Justice investigation of Najib under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010, Najib had been avoiding the subject like the plague.

However, Najib cannot continue to keep mum and run away from this subject especially after his meeting with United States President Barack Obama, who subsequently said he had raised the importance of transparency, accountability and rooting out corruption with Najib, though he would not comment on investigations against Najib as he would not touch on ongoing probes even on the US soil.

It is most demeaning and degrading for the Malaysian Prime Minister to be “lectured” by the US President on the importance of transparency, accountability and rooting out corruption – something Obama would never dream of doing in his meetings with the Prime Ministers of Japan or Singapore for instance. Continue reading “Apart from saying “yes” or “no” as to whether he is being investigated as a “kleptocrat” by FBI, there is still a third answer by Najib”

Posted on

1MDB May Have Violated US Election Laws

Asia Sentinel
November 16, 2015

Some of the money shoveled into US consultancy may have ended up in US political campaigns

Records compiled by the Sarawak Report, the UK-based news site run by Clare Rewcastle Brown, indicate that the state-backed 1Malaysia Development Bhd. investment fund may have violated US Federal Election Law by channeling money to a well-connected US lobbying firm, which subsequently poured money into the 2014 electoral campaigns of at least seven Democrats.

The vehicle was DuSable Capital Management, incorporated in Delaware, which features some of the US’s weakest corporate registration laws, on May 9, 2013. DuSable was the brainchild of Frank White Jr., the National vice-chairman of President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and co-chair for the president’s 2013 Inauguration Committee, and Shomik Dutta, a former hedge fund executive and fellow political campaigner. In effect, White was formerly the president’s chief fundraiser after having sold his own IT support company to go into political campaigning.

DuSable registered as a foreign agent for the government of Malaysia five months later, on Sept. 9 with its sole registered client 1MDB and the government of Malaysia. Continue reading “1MDB May Have Violated US Election Laws”

Posted on

Obama should be asked specific question when he visits Malaysia whether FBI and US Department of Justice are investigating Najib under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 in connection with the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal

Together with DAP National Political Director and MP for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong and DAP MP for Segambut Lim Lip Eng, we have just arrived in Sandakan, whih is the last place of the three-day six-stop launch in Sabah of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign as part of the nation-wide movement to make 30 million Malaysians realise that they are all victims of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB mega twin scandals.

Malaysians all over the country, regardless of race, religion, region or political affiliation, are increasingly asking two questions about the RM2.6 billion “donation” deposited in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election, where the RM2.6 billion came from and to whom the monies went to.

Najib should realise that these two questions are not going to go away, and the longer he procrastinates in giving a full and satisfactory explanation as to where the R2.6 billion came from and to whom they had been given to, the worse it is for Najib in terms of his credibility and legitimacy as Prime Minister of Malaysia. Continue reading “Obama should be asked specific question when he visits Malaysia whether FBI and US Department of Justice are investigating Najib under the DOJ’s Kleptocracy Assets Recovery Initiative 2010 in connection with the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal”

Posted on

Call for a national roundtable conference of eminent citizens, community and religious elders, political and civil society leaders to brainstorm to search for an exit for the country’s unprecedented quandary and to restore Malaysians’ lost self-confidence to compete with the best in the world

I thank the people of Sabah who have shown unstintingly their support for the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign in the past two days during our tour of Tenom, Keningau, Kudat and Kota Kinabalu, continuing tomorrow to Tuaran and Sandakan.

The “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang and Mana RM2.6 billion?” campaign is not about me, but the future of 3.3 million Sabahans and 30 million Malaysians – whether Sabahans and Malaysians have the right to demand that their elected representatives raise the issues that matter to the people in Parliament and the State Assemblies, like Prime Minister’s Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion l1MDB twin mega scandals.

Malaysia is now in unprecedented times and we are in fact in “no man’s land” in terms of our political and nation-building experience.

There have been many strange goings-on in our country in the past year demonstrating that what we see openly and publicly may not reflect the many powerful under-currents flowing below the surface in our political society. Appearance is not the reality, as things may not be what they seem on surface.

I will give three illustrations. Continue reading “Call for a national roundtable conference of eminent citizens, community and religious elders, political and civil society leaders to brainstorm to search for an exit for the country’s unprecedented quandary and to restore Malaysians’ lost self-confidence to compete with the best in the world”

Posted on

DAP offers to champion and defend Najib if the Prime Minister can prove that he is a “scapegoat” of the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals

I am prepared to champion and defend the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, if he can prove that he is a “scapegoat” of the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals which are the major causes of the prolonged crisis of confidence, both national and international, which had hounded Malaysia with such serious adverse economic consequences, whether the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit, the plunge in the Malaysian stock market, the fall in Malaysia’s international reserves, the flight of foreign capital and the avoidance of Malaysia as a destination by foreign investors.

I am reminded of the saying that with such friends, one does not need enemies when I read what the PPP President, M. Kayveas said at the PPP Deepavali Open House in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Kayveas made the astonishing claim that Najib is being made the 1MDB scapegoat when the company’s management should have taken full responsibility for the poor performance of the government investment fund.

This was exactly what the then Deputy Prime Miniter Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had proposed, suggesting to Najib that the Barisan Nasional federal government should sack the entire board of the debt-laden 1MDB, but Muhyiddin was sacked as DPM instead! Continue reading “DAP offers to champion and defend Najib if the Prime Minister can prove that he is a “scapegoat” of the RM2.6 billion and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals”

Posted on

Five things I will do on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals if I am Chairman of Public Accounts Committee

These are the five things I will do on the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals if I am Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee:

Firstly, I would have summoned the former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail as a star witness of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) investigations, in particular to testify whether there was a draft corruption charge sheet against the Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Najib Razak related to 1MDB and whether this was the real reason why Gani had been summarily sacked as Attorney-General although he was three months short of compulsory retirement?

Gani’s presence and testimony is all the more urgent as a result of two recent developments: the statement by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on Oct. 22 that it had never denied the authenticity of a draft charge sheet against the Prime Minister and Gani’s first public appearance at the Bar Council forum on Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) on 3rd November rubbishing the government claim that Gani was removed for “health” reasons as Gani had showed up at the public forum not in a wheelchair or as an invalid but looking very “hale, hearty and healthy”! Continue reading “Five things I will do on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals if I am Chairman of Public Accounts Committee”

Posted on

Five factors why Najib cannot shift responsibility for the country’s woes to external causes – twin mega scandals and prolonged crisis of confidence in Najib premiership

Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak told the Malay Contractors Association that blame should not be placed entirely on the government for what is happening in the country right now, especially with the weakening ringgit, as the main factors causing this are external and out of the government’s control.

I do not think Najib would find much sympathy or support for his attempt to “pass the buck” and blame external factors for the country’s woes.

Najib is guilty of serious denial syndrome in refusing to accept that while the falling oil prices have a huge impact on the depreciation of the Malaysian ringgit, the prolonged crisis of confidence and the political turmoils in the country have been major factors undermining the economy.

Let me outline five factors why Najib cannot shirk or shake responsibility for the country’s present prolonged woes: Continue reading “Five factors why Najib cannot shift responsibility for the country’s woes to external causes – twin mega scandals and prolonged crisis of confidence in Najib premiership”

Posted on

Just as Deepavali celebrates eternal battle and victory of light over darkness, the darkness of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals must be exposed by the light of integrity, transparency and good governance

Deepavali celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of truth and justice over falsehood and oppression.

The course of human history is replete with examples in different countries and civilisations of the hard and difficult battles fought by righteous men and women down the ages to uphold truth and justice against injustice, falsehoods and oppression and how eventually, light prevailed over darkness.

We must always be mindful that the darkest hour is just before dawn!

For me, the Deepavali this year will be quite out of the ordinary, for I have been suspended from Parliament for six months not because I had committed any crime but because I was speaking what was in the hearts and minds of ordinary Malaysians in Parliament – that the three-month derailment of the Public Accounts Committee in its investigations into the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals was wrong and unacceptable and that the Parliament Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had no such powers to stop the PAC from continuing with its 1MDB investigations for three months. Continue reading “Just as Deepavali celebrates eternal battle and victory of light over darkness, the darkness of the RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals must be exposed by the light of integrity, transparency and good governance”

Posted on

Call on Najib not to condone Azalina’s unparliamentary schedule but to be in Parliament on Nov. 16 to give full accountability on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals

When Parliament resumes on Monday November 16 after the Deepavali holidays, it will be the last day of three-day Ministerial winding-up of the debate on the 2016 Budget.

Will the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak appear in person to wind up the debate and answer the various pertinent issues raised by Members of Parliament from both sides of the House in the six-day debate by the parliamentary backbenchers or will Najib again play truant from Parliament?

The new Minister for the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said has already set the stage for Najib to play truant from Parliament on Nov. 16, when she told the media yesterday that the government would reply on the controversial RM2.6 billion “donation” that went into Najib’s personal bank accounts on the last day of the 25-day budget meeting on Dec. 3, although she could not yet say whether it would be Najib or another Minister who would be nominated to do the answering.

This is the height of contempt of Parliament, treating Parliament like a classroom of recalcitrant students, with the Speaker given the role of a mere school principal but the Prime Minister like the education supervisor whose word and action is law!

Azalina who is Minister in the PM’s Department in charge of parliamentary affairs should understand the doctrine of separation of powers in a parliamentary democracy and the principle of parliamentary control of the Executive where the Prime Minister must also comply with the Parliamentary tradition, conventions, procedures and practices and cannot act as he likes in Parliament. Continue reading “Call on Najib not to condone Azalina’s unparliamentary schedule but to be in Parliament on Nov. 16 to give full accountability on the 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” twin mega scandals”

Posted on

In debate on 2016 Budget, I would have urged PAC to summon Gani Patail and Hamid Bador to testify whether there was a draft corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib related to 1MDB

The announcement by the new Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Datuk Hassan Arifin yesterday that the PAC will meet for the first time on Monday after a three-month interregnum is welcome, although parliamentary and public expectations of the PAC would not be as high as previously.

If I am taking part in the 2016 Budget debate, I would urge the PAC to do two things when it meets on Monday:

Firstly, for the PAC to set an example to Parliament with every PAC member declaring whether he or she has any pecuniary interest in the twin mega-scandals of RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election, and those who have pecuniary interest in these two mega scandals should excuse themselves from participating in any PAC hearings on them.

Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 35(6) stipulates that “A Member shall not speak on any matter in which he has a direct personal pecuniary interest (other than the matter of remuneration under any provision of the Constitution) without disclosing the extent of that interest.”

If it is a breach of Parliamentary Standing Orders for an MP to speak on any matter without disclosing the extent of his or her pecuniary interest on the subject, it is all the more a violation of parliamentary privilege for a PAC member to be involved in any investigation into the twin mega scandals of RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” for the 13th General Election if he or she has any pecuniary interest in the two financial scandals. Continue reading “In debate on 2016 Budget, I would have urged PAC to summon Gani Patail and Hamid Bador to testify whether there was a draft corruption charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib related to 1MDB”

Posted on

Was there a draft charge sheet in the Attorney-General’s Chambers against the Prime Minister related to corruption before Gani Patail was sacked as Attorney-General on July 27?

Today is the 28th anniversary of the Operation Lalang dragnet of Oct. 27, 1987 which saw the mass arrest of 106 people under the detention-without-trial Internal Security Act, with 49 persons, including Members of Parliament and social activists, served with formal two-year detention orders and the closure of three major newspapers.

It is sad and tragic that today’s 28th anniversary for one of the darkest periods for democracy and human rights in the nation’s history coincides with a global report which is a damning indictment on widespread abuses of power against critics and dissenters by a Prime Minister who had come to power six years ago promising a new era for democracy and human rights in Malaysia, who even had the temerity to launch a global movement of moderates which now lay in ruins.

The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW)’s 145-page report “Creating a Culture of Fear: The Criminalisation of Peaceful Expression of Malaysia” documents not only Najib’s repeated breach of his promise to repeal repressive and draconian laws, but the institution of new regime of fear and terror where criticism has become a crime.

This regime of fear and terror have escalated in the country with the twin mega-scandals of RM50 billion 1MDF and RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts spiralling out of control, not only in the country but internationally, with half a dozen foreign countries opening separate investigations. Continue reading “Was there a draft charge sheet in the Attorney-General’s Chambers against the Prime Minister related to corruption before Gani Patail was sacked as Attorney-General on July 27?”

Posted on

I would have asked Najib whether more than RM2.6 billion “donation” had been deposited into his personal banking accounts and if so, what was the final total of the “donation, if I had spoken on the 2016 Budget debate

At the launching of Pakatan Harapan Negri Sembilan in Seremban on Sunday night, I said that I would have advised the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to refund the RM2.6 billion “donation” to the Treasury as one way to resolve the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal during the debate on 2016 budget if I had not been suspended from Parliament for six months.

But before I made such a proposal, I would have asked Najib to “come clean” about the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal, at least in five instances, viz:

1. Whether more than RM2.6 billion “donation” had been deposited into his personal banking account at AmBank, and if so, the total amount of “donation” that had been deposited into his personal account before the 13th General Election.

2. Who are the “donors” who deposited billions of ringgit into Najib’s personal banking accounts for the 13th General Election campaign funding.

3. The respective percentage and breakdown of these “donations” into foreign and local sources.

4. Who were the recipients and beneficiaries from these billions of “donations” deposited into Najib’s personal accounts, in particular those who are in the present Cabinet and Parliament, as well as the UMNO/BN candidates in the 2013 General Elections.

5. Whether he would submit all bank records of such “deposits” and payments to the Public Accounts Committee and the Attorney-General for investigation.

Continue reading “I would have asked Najib whether more than RM2.6 billion “donation” had been deposited into his personal banking accounts and if so, what was the final total of the “donation, if I had spoken on the 2016 Budget debate”

Posted on

Multibillion-dollar scandal in Malaysia has echoes for American conservatives

By Thomas Lifson
American Thinker
October 26, 2015

As scandals go, the current imbroglio in Malaysia ring a lot of bells for American conservatives accustomed to home-grown crony capitalism: a gigantic Stimulus-like program intended to spur lagging growth, billions of missing dollars, allegations of missing money used in an election, donations from a mysterious Middle East party, affirmative action, and even Goldman Sachs. Tom Wright and Ken Brown report in the Wall Street Journal:

A scandal involving a government investment fund in Malaysia is drawing world-wide attention and has led to calls at home for the ouster of the country’s prime minister. It is also affecting U.S. diplomacy in a strategically important part of Asia. The fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd., or 1MDB, is under investigation in five countries. Continue reading “Multibillion-dollar scandal in Malaysia has echoes for American conservatives”