Category: Parliament

Since the expose by Wall Street Journal in early July last year of the RM2.6 billion into Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal banking accounts, there have been numerous diverse and even conflicting versions about the source of the multi-billion ringgit deposits in Najib’s accounts, with the total figure expanding from RM2.6 billion to RM4.2 billion.

The latest and newest version about the source of the RM2.6 billion donation to Najib’s personal banking accounts came from the Director-General of Department of Special Affairs (Jasa), Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi in his speech in Canberra in his international “Veracity Tour” to “brainwash” Malay students overseas.

Puad told Malay students in Canberra that Najib had told UMNO leaders when the Wall Street Journal reported the expose in early July last year that he had “Bank Negara documents” to approve the transfer the money (RM2.6 billion) into his personal accounts and that he had discussed it with the Bank Negara governor.

According to Puad, Najib denied the money originated from 1MDB and told UMNO leaders that the money was from the Saudi King (Raja Saudi) to “combat the Islamic State, and secondly, to help in other places such as in Palestine and others”.

The other and sometimes conflicting versions of the source of the RM2.6 billion “donation” into Najib’s personal bank accounts include: Continue reading “Time for Najib to speak up personally and state which version or versions about the source of the multi-billion ringgit deposits into his personal bank accounts was the true and correct one”

It has been reported that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be making a “working visit” to the United Kingdom from Sunday to May 18 to promote investment between the two countries.

It would appear that Najib’s overseas itinerary had been planned to enable him to avoid parliamentary responsibility and accountability with Parliament scheduled to reconvene on Monday.

Why is Najib absconding to UK when he should be in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting on the exploding 1MDB global financial scandal?

Why is Najib going away from the country when he should have given top priority to his attendance of Parliament among all his Prime Ministerial duties especially with the 1MDB scandal assuming such an explosive dimension? Continue reading “Why is Najib absconding to UK next week when he should be in Parliament to give full and satisfactory accounting on the exploding 1MDB global financial scandal?”

Marang is the 127th parliamentary constituency I am visiting since my six-month suspension from Parliament for wanting the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to answer two simple questions about the twin global corruption scandals which had been haunting and hounding him for over a year – where the astronomical sums of money running into billions of ringgit in the twin mega scandals come from and where the monies have gone to.

I am returning to Parliament on Monday but these two simple questions about Najib’s RM50 billion 1MDB scandal and RM4.2 billion “donation” scandals are as elusive as ever, although the twin mega scandals have merged into one gargantuan global scandal spanning over a dozen countries.

The Global Anti-Corruption Summit in London yesterday has among its objeectives to:

* expose corruption so there is nowhere to hide;

* punish the perpetrators and support those affected by corruption; and

* drive out the culture of corruption wherever it exists.

Will Najib as Prime Minister of Malaysia declare full support for these three objectives of the Global Anti-Corruption Summit in London, or is the Malaysian Government terribly frightened of these triple goals. Continue reading “Terengganu is a peculiar state where Opposition Assemblymen help to prop up the UMNO Mentri Besar to defeat a no-confidence motion in the State Assembly from an UMNO Assemblyman”

Kuala Terengganu is the 126th parliamentary constituency that I am visiting in my “Pantang Undur – Berani Kerana Benar” nation-wide tour since my six-month suspension from Parliament in October last year for demanding two simple answers from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak with regard to this twin mega scandals which have put Malaysia among the top 10 countries infamous for global corruption – where the monies for the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM4.2 billion “donation” scandals came from and where the monies have gone to.

I will return to Parliament when it reconvenes on Monday 16th May, but six months after my suspension from Parliament, the two questions of “Where the monies came from and where the monies have gone to” have still to be answered, and have writ even larger, with major developments in Najib’s twin mega financial scandals confirming Malaysia as home to one of the great global corruptions of the time.

In fact, never before had Malaysia seen a local scandal taken such global dimension as to be almost in frequent international limelight, sometimes for days at a stretch, in the past year or more, and if anyone googles “1MDB scandal”, there would be more than half a million returns!

This is not to the credit or honour of Malaysia – but to our great national shame and humiliation. Continue reading “Four parliamentary measures to redeem national honour and reputation in the handling of Malaysia’s first global scandal – RM50 billion 1MDB scandal”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday a failed initial public offering (IPO) exercise, as a result of being “attacked”, was the main reason why 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) encountered problems.

He said 1MDB used the debt funding approach to operate its business, which required an IPO to be undertaken in the shortest possible time. The authorities did not foresee that 1MDB would come under relentless “attacks”, which resulted in the IPO exercise could not be carried out, hence the cashflow problems.

Was this the real reason why 1MDB had exploded to become the nation’s first global financial scandal, keeping the nation constantly in the international limelight for massive transborder financial frauds, irregularities and money-laundering?

Or was the Economic Planning Minister, Datuk Sri Abdul Wahid Omar more to the point when he admitted last month that 1MDB model of low capitalization and huge borrowings was unsustainable from the very start.

What was the “original sin” of the 1MDB global financial scandal – the IPO failure, the unsustainable model of low capitalization and huge borrowings or something more fundamental, conceived right from the beginning as a mega global scam that has triggered investigations by several countries on international embezzlement and money-laundering to the tune of some USD11 billion stretching from Singapore to the United States? Continue reading “Call to Najib to present White Paper on 1MDB in next week’s Parliament and to set aside three days for debate on it, as well as PAC Report on 1MDB”

JP Morgan Asia’s downgrade of Malaysia’s status to underweight is the latest bad news for Malaysia and potent testimony that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has gained no respite for Malaysia or for himself on the 1MDB global scandal despite the landslide Barisan Nasional victory in Sarawak state general election on Saturday.

The equity research team cited concern about Malaysian banks, which also account for about 30 percent of the iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF (EWM), as one of the main reasons for the downgrade.

It said: “Negative outlook on financials driven by increasing credit costs due to declining loan and deposit growth. Banks are grappling with rising non-performing loans (expected to peak at 3.1 percent in 2018).”

The iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF had fallen 7.7 percent in the second quarter, which makes it the second worst performing market in Asia after Taiwan.

In the past fortnight, while Najib has led the campaign in the Sarawak state elections to rain money throughout the state, Malaysia has not ceased to be at the receiving end of adverse international developments and references, like being named number two by The Economist in its second index of crony capitalism, just behind Russia which clinched the crony capitalism crown. Continue reading “Najib has gained no respite for Malaysia or for himself on the 1MDB global scandal despite the landslide Barisan Nasional victory in Sarawak state general elections on Saturday”

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should reconvene and present new findings on 1MDB based on three factors: firstly, reconsideration of PAC Report on 1MDB; secondly, the London Stock Exchange statement that British Virgin Islands-incorporated Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI) has no links with the Abu Dhabi-state owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) or its subsidiary Aabar Investments PJS and that neither of them have received US$3.5 billion which 1MDB had paid to Aabar BVI; and thirdly, summoning important witnesses omitted in PAC investigations.

I say reconsideration of the PAC Report on 1MDB because the host of 1MDB scams, mismanagements, dubious loans and transactions do not just demand that the 1MDB former CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi and others in the management should be held responsible for the first global corruption in the nation’s history, but all fingers in the PAC Report point to a final authority and decision-maker higher than Shahrol.

This is because there are four tiers of management authority in 1MDB, namely the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and the Top Management, but over and above all these three tiers of management, is the fourth and most vital tier – the Prime Minister who by virtue of Article 117 of 1MDB Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) is the ultimate authority who exercised final direct control of 1MDB.

Article 117 of the 1MDB M & A requires all major decisions of the company involving financial commitment (including investment) and restructuring to have the written authorization from the Prime Minister, it is the Prime Minister who is the most important player in 1MDB, exceeding the role of the Advisory Board, the Board of Directors and the Top Management all added together. Continue reading “PAC should reconvene and present new findings on 1MDB based on three factors: (i) reconsideration of PAC Report on 1MDB; (ii) London Stock Exchange statement that Aabar Ltd BVI is phoney company; (iii) summon important witnesses omitted in PAC investigations”

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Datuk Hasan Arifin should convene an emergency PAC meeting to ask the 1MDB President and CEO, Arul Kanda Kandasamy to explain why he should not be referred to the Committee of Privileges next month for lying and claiming to the PAC that Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar BVI) was related to Aabar Investment PJS.

Within four days of the tabling of the PAC Report on 1MDB last Thursday, Arul Kanda’s lie to the PAC in his testimony on 18th December 2015 was exposed when the Abu Dhabi’s state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) told the London Stock Exchange in a statement 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.

This is the fastest result for any PAC Report in the nation’s 59-year parliamentary history, and the five Opposition PAC members have been fully vindicated for signing the PAC Report on 1MDB although it did not go as far as it should in its findings and conclusions.

One other important thing which the PAC Report on 1MDB had achieved as a result of the signing of the five Opposition PAC members – Deputy PAC Chairman Dr. Tan Seng Giaw (Kepong), Dato’ Kamarul Baharin Abas (Telok Kemang), William Leong (Selayang), Dato’ Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bahru) and Tony Pua (PJ Utara) – was the admission by the Najib administration of the hosts of 1MDB scams, mismanagements, dubious loans and transactions in the past seven year which until last Thursday had been dismissed as speculative and unverified allegations by irresponsible, biased or even Jewish/Zionist-inspired journalists in hostile foreign newspapers like Wall Street Journal (WSJ), New York Times, Financial Times or unreliable websites like Sarawak Report. Continue reading “Hasan should convene emergency PAC meeting to ask Arul Kanda to explain why he should not be referred to Committee of Privileges next month for lying to PAC claiming that Aabar Investments PJS Ltd (Aabar BVI) was related to Aabar Investment PJS”

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?””

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”

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”